Attack on Alchemist
by Girlinthewind76
Summary: After 100 years of peace, Wall Maria has finally fallen, and so begins the battle for the survival of mankind. Winry Rockbell is certainly shocked to be thrown into life-or-death situations alongside childhood friends Edward and Alphonse Elric, but will the bonds between the three keep them alive in the hectic pace of the Survey Corps? EdxWin, hints of other canon pairings
1. Chapter 1

**Okay I've finally caved into the burning inspiration I've had for this story ever since I watched Attack on Titan, or Shingeki no Kyojin…because my hyperactive mind made connections between this anime and FMA Brotherhood! Eren Jaeger=Ed, Armin=Al, Mikasa=Winry, Eren's father=Hohenheim, Eren's Mom=Trisha Elric, Levi=Roy, Petra=Riza…one can get the picture, It's kinda just like a reality where alchemy went hugely wrong and Titans were created as a result, and when that realization hit me I REEEALLY wanted to make an AU based loosely around that train of thought:DD Obviously though I'm going to change the group dynamics that you see in Attack on Titan between Mikasa, Eren, and Armin because this is a story about Ed, Al, and Winry and they're going to have different chemistry than the main trio in AoT. I'm going to completely use FMAB characters, so don't worry about random people showing up in the story from AoT in case you haven't watched it…Heads up, I'm a HUGGGGGGE fan of EdwardxWinry, and there will be lots of EDWINy moments along with canon ships ROYAI and AlMEI, so if you're not a canon fan GO AWWAYY (jk you're welcome to read this) **

**So without further adue, ATTACK ON ALCHEMIST**

**Disclaimer: In an alternate dimension, Edward Elric is real and HE writes fanfictions about USSS! Aaaand Arakawa still owns him there…also that is not possible but Arakawa still owns him in this dimension too. What can I say, she's awesome! ;) **

**(Thursday, 2 years before the fall of Wall Maria)**

Sara Rockbell was just putting the finishing touches on her daughter's 8th birthday gift when a series of loud, familiar crashes broke the quiet serenity of the past hour. The sounds wouldn't normally have fazed her; she was long since used to such noise being the mother of a rambunctious tomboy for nearly 8 years. But her super-sensitive mom ears heard a yelp thrown in with the cacophony of clunking machinery and it was enough to stop her garnishing and sweep her out of the living room and into her daughter's room three doors down the hallway.

As Sara burst through Winry's doorway so forcefully that she heard a _whoomp_ of air rush by in the wake of the door's swing, she counted herself lucky that she had caught her daughter in the act for once thanks to her graceless rampage. There, in plain sight was a blushing, guilty-looking Winry Rockbell caught red-handed making…_wait just a minute! _Sara's roaring train of thought de-railed spectacularly at the completely baffling sight. The moment she had opened the door, Sara had been expecting to give her daughter some gentle scolding and cautionary advice on being more careful with her mommy and daddy's tools, but instead she found herself looking at something…a more normal parent would find herself faced with.

Winry was painting her toenails. With Sara's favorite nail polish, an inky black that always made her feel like her hands looked slimmer and more feminine. Winry squeaked, "Oh, Mom!" at the sudden invasion, and messily capped the bottle and pushed it discreetly to the side, which clinked into four other bottles of closely correlating shades. The whole thing seemed suspiciously staged somehow, and it didn't escape Sara's keen eye that Winry seemed to simultaneously nudge something out of view with her knee slyly. Although she thought she had an idea of what it could be…nail polish included a polymer that could corrode the delicate workings of—

"M-Mom! Mom, uh what do you come in here for? Sorry I made a mess, I promise I'll clean it up, I just wanted to try this shade on…Paninya and I are having a sleepover tomorrow and we both suck at painting nails so I wanted to get better—"

"Oh no I'm not here to scold you about…Is that my favorite tube, honey?" Sara squinted meaningfully at the black bottle, making Winry shrug bashfully in response.

"Sorry…"

"Haha! Ask first next time, or I'll give you extra chores missy…Now I came here because I heard you playing with machinery. Where'd you hide it?" Sara held in a sudden laugh at the way her daughter's eyes widened comically, evidence enough of her guilt. Sighing in resignation, Winry turned and laboriously pulled out Urey's old 3D-maneuver gear, now better suited to scrap metal as a result of her daughter's intensive fiddling and redesigning. Just as she suspected, there were suspicious smudges of a black substance smeared around the finer controls.

At the meek admission, Sara felt a sense of pride that she had so easily unraveled her prodigious daughter's scheming. It was getting harder and harder to predict her daughter, and she was only getting sneakier, reminding her once again of a certain grandmother…

"Here it is…I was just wondering if the chromium oxide polymer would stop the transmissions between the levers and gas release…and I also really did want to practice painting my nails just so you know."

Sara didn't know whether to laugh some more or pull her hair out in exasperation. Her child was just so much like Urey in some ways! Urey and her both spent countless hours of each day experimenting and developing theories for the military and use of the recon corps, but while she was more focused on combative uses, her husband was more inclined to pick apart average equipment and find ways to improve upon the design. It was one of the many reasons the Rockbell family was considered invaluable to mankind in the war against Titans…and when one adds Pinako with her revolutionary efforts in artificial prosthetics and the burgeoning promise her little girl held into the equation…Sara shook her head, and returned to parenting mode.

"Honey that's very clever of you, but I don't want you messing around with your father's 3D maneuver gear—"

"But Mom-!"

"-Until you're older. It's fine by me if you want to assist your Grandma in the shop but here, in this house, there will be no fiddling with machinery like this unless you're a cadet in the Training Corps with the proper respect for such equipment. Am I clear?"

"…B-but…Moooooooooooom….URRGH! Fine! But what if I can help you and Dad out with stuff like this? You're always searching for ideas, maybe I can help!"

But Sara stood by her decision. Once a Rockbell woman made up her mind, it was over.

"Sorry honey, but no. Now clean up this mess and get dressed." As Winry opened her mouth in protest Sara cut in, "It's time you spent some time outside! Your poor friends must feel like you've been neglecting them…" Winry's brow crinkled in confusion.

"Which friends? Paninya and I are gonna hang out tomorrow…"

"But you're not going to see the Elric boys at your sleepover that's for certain."

"Oh! I had something I wanted to show those guys!" gasped Winry, knocking over the nail polish bottles in her haste to stumble to her dresser, hastily snatching articles of clothing that were previously thrown haphazardly around her closet. While Winry crazily threw together an outfit, her mother calmly picked up the mottled remains of what was once functioning-3D maneuver gear, and glided out of her daughter's room, closing the door behind her. Walking down the hallway, she reflected that some time at the Elric's house would give her time to finish Winry's birthday present, a hand-knit bandana to keep the sweat off her brow as she worked with her granny on automail. She had recently acted on a sudden rebellious desire to see her daughter in something girly for once, and started adding lace around the edges to give off a feminine vibe. She only hoped her daughter would like it…

Approximately 6 minutes later a door banged shut and Winry rushed into the living room in a whirlwind of blonde-hair and intense blue eyes. With a quick kiss on the cheek to her mother, and a shout of, "Bye, see you after dinner Mom!" she was out the front door sprinting down the heavily-worn path that connected their house to the Elric's.

Sara, having shoved the bandana unceremoniously beneath the table to hide from Winry's discerning gaze, pulled it back out to continue working when her elbow brushed against the maneuver gear Winry had been screwing around with. The cold metal jarred her focus, and Sara glanced once more at the tampered machinery. Suddenly curious to see what her daughter accomplished, she dropped her handiwork and began examining Winry's. Humming a mindless tune, she examined it perplexedly for a few minutes until she realized that she was out of her depth and gave up, sighing. Machinery was more Urey's thing; she'd have her husband take a look at it when he got home from patrol. But she had a feeling…call it mother's intuition, that Winry had definitely improved the contraption somehow. Give or take some acid corrosion. ..

**Also I'd totally like to thank xIcyChanx, WhatEvenIsThisNoise, FullmetalShortStack, and KarmaHope for their excellent AU's that totally rock and made me want to write again I'll try to update every week! Already working on the second chapter…**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews! I read all of them twice because they made me so happy:D To answer Tterit's question, I didn't sort this as a crossover (even though I probably should), because my story is easier to find this way and with crossovers you usually have a mix-n-match of characters from both series/elements, which I don't in this. It's ALL FMAB characters! Thanks TheBlondeDemon'sCreed and Suspicion's Curiosity for the positive appraisals:D I'm having fun deciding how to blend the storylines into something that leaves room for plenty of Edxwin (I SHIP THEM HARRD) and I actually managed to include mentions of each pairing in this chapter, even though you won't meet the other couples until later on…Beware, there's angst in the beginning! But what is plot without angst? Muahahaha…Also in case any of you read/watched Attack on Titan, I just want make it clear that I'm definitely re-defining Mikasa's/Winry's role in this story. In AoT, Mikasa is like a mean-green titan-killing machine who's clearly in love with Eren…Ok, honestly I'm putting this plainly, Winry's going to SUCK at killing things. Like Armin does! Role reversal! Al's going to the one who's good at killing titans along with Edward. Winry, although her backstory in this more closely corresponds with Mikasa's, is going to be the strategical genius and weapons mechanic that Armin was. Clear? **

**I forgot to add that I don't own Attack on Titan last Chapter by the way! So here it is now, IN PRINT**

**Disclaimer: ME ATTACK ON TITAN NOT OWN **

**Disclaimer #2: ME FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST NOT OWN**

**(Thursday, Elric Household, 2 years before the Fall of Wall Maria)**

"Brother?" Ed didn't acknowledge him, bent over an assortment of strange, puzzling objects… Al sweat dropped and tried again, a little more urgent.

"_Brother?"_ Two golden irises shot up, slightly irritated.

"…what Al! I'm in the middle of something here—"

"I think I hear Mom saying she can see Winry running up the path…"

"W-WHAT?! WHY'D SHE HAVE TO COME NOW, TODAY? TELL HER TO GO AWAY AL!"

"Hey! That's not nice Brother, don't pretend you're not happy to see our friend!"

"BUT I'M NOT SHE'LL RUIN EVERYTHING THAT B—"

"I'll tell Mom you swore again!"

"I WAS GONNA SAY BRAT ALPHONSE! NOW GO OUT THERE AND TELL HER TO BEAT IT!"

"I can't move at all! You said that'd mess it all up!"

"B-but…then she's gonna find out if we don't do something, Alphonse—S-she…_this_…she'd m-misunderstand alright?!"

"But Brother—"

_THUD!_

"OW! HEEY!"

"Shut your trap and she won't know we're here!"

"But you threw a screwdriver at me!"

"Welcome to my world!"

***BREAK***

Trisha Elric tried to appear nonchalant, and not like she was barely restraining giggles at the current predicament, as she opened the front door to see a winded little Rockbell cradling a book to her chest.

"Hello, Winry, it's nice to see you! I don't think the boys are presentable right now—"There came a loud thump from the room above, followed by a muffled exclamation, then all was quiet again, "but…I think they will be in just a moment. Would you mind waiting in the kitchen for them?"

Winry looked a little crestfallen at having to wait. "Sure Auntie Trisha, thanks for letting me in." She marched to the kitchen, where Trisha could hear her scrape back a chair and slam the book down a minute later. She started to hum quietly to herself in wait.

As Mrs. Elric walked back to the living room, she idly wondered at the book the girl had held clutched to her bosom like a precious treasure. It looked different from books her sons checked out on occasion from the district library down the road…Its cover was a bright blue, with the curious title of "World Atlas," branded in bold black letters across the front. It didn't seem to have any connection to machinery like she'd expect from the child…

_Aah._ She almost forgot to warn her boys that Miss Birthday Girl was sitting in their kitchen.

After a few strides, a set of stairs, and a knock on a door with a gentle warning, Edward and Alphonse were clunking reluctantly down the stairs to face their best friend.

"Okay Winry the boys are down!" Trisha called from the banisters.

Before they got to the bottom, Ed nudged Al with his arm. "_Hey…not a word…" _Ed whispered into his brother's ear. Al glared indignantly back. "_I know that! She'd brain both of us…"_ he finished fearfully.

"Hey guys! Why are you talking about?" They jumped at the suddenness of her appearance in the doorway from the kitchen to the hall. Then Ed snickered, hooking his thumb at Al.

"Al's trying to get me to tell him what older kids mean when they say they want 'privacy'."

"Eew, don't you tell him he's only seven!"

"It's time he knew, we were only six when you made me read that medical textbook—"

"That was an accident I SWEAR!" Alphonse was lost. He didn't know what this conversation even began from or what his brother meant. But suddenly, he wanted to know…just he'd ask later where Winry and brother wouldn't bicker about it.

"Um, what's that book you're holding Winry?" Al spoke up, at the same time Ed screamed, "That's something I never freaking needed to know because I'll never like a girl like that because they're all brats like you!" Winry ignored Ed, switching her attention to the younger brother with a sudden gleam in her eye.

"Granny says this was one of my grandfather's most prized possessions…she says this is over a hundred years old, from before the Walls were built…this book has run in my family for a long time, and I wanted to—u-um," Winry shyly dropped her gaze, a tint of red glazing her cheeks in embarrassment, "I wanted to share it with my best friends."

Ed quieted at the mention of her grandfather. She never really talked about him, as he died before Winry was born, but Winry was still touchy about the subject and never shared much about her personal life often. She was more often concerned over _their _lives…

Ed stretched a hand to scratch the back of his head and cleared his throat, "You…sure you want to show _us_ this book?" he muttered, eyes trained on his feet.

Winry blushed more, and nodded enthusiastically. Al clapped his hands giddily. "Yay! Can we go to our spot to read it Winry?"

"Down by the canal?"

"Yeah that one! Come on brother! I'll tell Mom where we're going!" He bounded happily out of the room.

Ed moved to follow after Alphonse when he felt a small hand grasp his arm. Turning uncertainly towards his friend, Ed lifted an eyebrow in question.

"Uh…this book is amazing! I read through part of it already, and that's when I realized I had to share it with you guys!"

"Winry…"

"It talks about what the world is like outside the walls, like it mentions landforms called 'oceans' that hold water like canals do, but they're a million times wider! And in between the oceans are 'continents' which are giant land masses! We live on one of those apparently! And I can't wait to tell you about this place called 'Xing' which is isolated from everywhere else by a massive dessert!"

Ed grinned a little at her expression; her excitement always got him interested even if it was about something boring, like automail.

"Sounds like fun!"

"Really?!"

"'Course it does, you're annoying when you ask dumb questions like that…"

"Hey you SHRIMP! All I said was '_Really_!'"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING AN UBER-SMALL MIDGET WHO'S SO SHORT HE HAS TO BUY A LADDER TO REACH THE FRIDGE HANDLE?!"

"The uber-small midget himself, idiot."

"GGRAAH I HATE GIRLS! TAKE THAT BACK YOU B—!"

"Edward Van Elric!" Shouted a rarely irritable Mrs. Elric, who had just entered the room clutching Al's tiny fist in hers.

"I-I was going to say brat!" Ed protested weakly, wide-eyed. Trisha fixed her eldest with a stern gaze, and when he immediately cowed she overturned her previous expression with a warm smile and unlatched Al's grip from hers.

"Go have fun you three, just come back before dinner. You're welcome to eat with us if you like Winry, just let your parents know."

"Okay!" The trio turned to leave. The eldest of the three had just reached up to close the door behind them when Trisha caught his gaze in her own.

"If I hear from Al that you picked on Winry or called her names you'll get extra chores when you come home mister."

"Aaaah! Mom! She always starts it—"

"I heard everything earlier that was being said between you two. You should be nicer to her, honey. You know better."

"..Humph."

"Oh, and honey?"

"What Mom?"

"Take care of your brother!"

"Sure, sure." After Ed securely latched the front door, he spun to meet the snickering faces of his two younger companions. Face reddening from embarrassment, he snapped "SHADDUP!" and dashed off, leaving them with dust in their faces and a quickly-retreating view of Ed's backside.

"Hey, wait for us brother!"

***BREAK***

Meanwhile, a woman, tall and beautiful, sat by the window ledge wistfully hoping her husband would hurry up and get home sooner. Her bright eyes lit up whenever a uniformed man passed by, but with each one that missed the turn up the absurdly long driveway, her brow crinkled deeper as impatience set in. After a minute more of deliberation, she grudgingly concluded he must have gotten side-tracked with the neighbors, or held up in a meeting, and wouldn't be home on time like he had promised.

She missed the tall individual that turned up her driveway just as she spun around to begin fixing dinner, so she was pleasantly surprised 5 minutes later when the door opened and in strode her heavily-breathing, sweaty, exhausted husband. Two strong arms wrapped themselves around her tiny waist and a chin landed carefully on her shoulder. "'M home…" He mumbled into her neck.

The woman sighed contently, pausing her vegetable peeling to plant a kiss on his cheek. "Long day?" She whispered. The man only groaned, tightening his grip briefly before letting go. "Roy wanted results…I had to gently explain that the only way to get them is to be patient. He understandably got a little upset…all there was else to do was paperwork and Riza had three stacks raring to go if he couldn't get results from our labs."

"I hope we find a cure soon, Urey…" The woman sighed. Her husband rubbed circles in her back soothingly. "Well if there's a will, there's a way. We're doctors Sara, it's what we do…"

The woman didn't feel much reassured, but she smiled in an attempt to bring back the casual levity of before. "Where's Win? I thought she'd run downstairs at the sound of my voice to greet me." "Oh! I sent her out to play. She's probably at the Elric's house by now." Which reminded her of the completed knitting she had shoved down her apron pocket, as a present for her little angel…

"Look what I finished!" She dug in her pocket for a second, then lifted the soft, sequined bandana to present before her husband proudly. He looked at his wife with awe and a new respect for her creativity. "You made this? Wow I thought you were too strong-willed to knit!" His wife laughed. "Well I had help from Graci—"

There was a knock at the door, breaking the couple from their moment. Looking at his wife with an expression of, "Who could that be?" He reluctantly trudged to the front door to answer the interruption.

Urey yawned as he opened the door wide to face their visitor. "Good evening!" Sara heard her husband call. She shifted to the silverware drawer to pull out a different vegetable peeler, her previous one was a bit dull, she thought. She commenced shredding the skin off the potatoes, humming quietly to herself.

She didn't hear Urey's sharp intake of breath, but she heard something crack, and the THUMP! of something big hitting the hardwood floor. "SAARAA!" Another crack, this one accompanied by a sickening squish.

"U-Urey? UREY? WHO'S THERE!" Sara, with dawning horror and a sickening feeling that the situation was spiraling out of her control, sprinted out of the kitchen to burst through the entryway between the hall and entrance. What she saw sucked the oxygen from the room and blacked out everything except Urey…Urey, laying face-up in an ocean of sticky liquid, a chasm gushing the stuff from his abdomen, blue eyes glassy and unseeing, an expression of agony and shock stiffening on his handsome face…

"S-saa…ra…" The word ghosted out the bloody cavern of his mouth, irises straining to take in the sight of his aghast, frozen wife for the final time. Her entire world screeched to a halt.

She forgot herself, she didn't notice the man with white hair and crimson eyes that watched as she threw herself on top of the dying man, crying so hard he would have wondered how she could even breathe through the racking of her body, if his murderous rage hadn't immediately been rebooted by the sight of her blond hair and blue eyes on the spot. He struck her once through the heart and she was silenced. Then three more times in the kidney, spleen, and lung to funnel the aftermath of his fury.

The man grimaced at the grotesquely slaughtered couple, not with rage any longer but revulsion.

"Because of you filth, who call yourselves doctors and healers….my brother was entrusted to your care and you failed him, just like you failed everyone! You do not deserve to live; I have done you both a favor."

_And he left out the way he came, shifting his hood to hide his face and the scars that would easily draw attention. _

_***BREAK***_

Of all the pictures in Winry's beautiful book, Alphonse decided he liked the illustrations of 'Xing' the best. According to the glossary in the back, Xing was a country far across the dessert to the East, a country that was inhabited by strange squinty-eyed people that no matter what they were doing in the photos, were smiling friendlily out like it was the best moment of their lives. They kind of reminded him of Mei Chang, actually. Al wondered if maybe the girl from five blocks away would like to look at Winry's "World Atlas" too…

He was drawn out of his thoughts by Ed violently jabbing a finger at a drawing of the "Atlantic Ocean," which earlier had left Al dazed at the amount of water it supposedly contained. "The Heck is that?" Ed asked Winry by elbowing her when he noticed she was gazing vacantly into space. Startled out her thoughts, Winry's gaze slid to where he was pointing. Her sky blue eyes popped open in interest.

"Oh, that's a whale. I had to ask Granny about it because it didn't say in the Atlas."

"What's it do?"

"Um, it's really big, she said. Like at one time it was the biggest animal on the whole Earth!" Ed's steady gaze shifted away from his friend's eyes.

"Must have been one heck of a thing to see. A goliath like that must have eaten people as easily as titans do, just not on Land. Guess this whole planet is pissed at humans for creatures like that to exist." Ed moodily flipped the page as if to get away from the memory of blood-thirsty whales while Winry huffed in exasperation at her friend's negativity.

"You don't even know if they eat meat, they could be vegavores." She stated.

"It's herbivores Win."

"Whatever! You don't always have to be so negative! I want to see the world outside the walls someday, and I want to go to all these places without worrying over what-ifs like that! It's one of my biggest dreams…don't spoil them with your stupid pessimism Ed!" Ed, instead of retaliating with the usual verbal arsenal, straightened grimly. His eyes uncharacteristically serious and blazing with some emotion Winry couldn't name.

"I hope you never see the world outside, it's dangerous and you'd get eaten in a second. So don't go out there alright? Don't do anything dumb or stupid that could end your life to fulfill a selfish wish."

"S-Selfish?!" Winry spluttered, her ire steadily rising.

"Yeah it's selfish! Do you know what'd that'd do to me and—AHEM Just… stay away from the Recon Corps! Leave the World-seeing to me 'n Al and we'll tell you everything you want to know without you getting in trouble!" Ed hollered fiercely in her face, his own tinged slightly pink in embarrassment.

Winry was riled and raring to go, however, and didn't notice the way Ed had gulped after almost admitting he'd miss her if she was dead, his cheeks pinking and breath quickening.

"YOU FREAKING HYPOCRITE! JUST LAST WEEK YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO JOIN THE RECON CORPS TO SEE THE WORLD EDWARD! THAT'S WHY I BROUGHT THIS BOOK ALONG IN THE FIRST PLACE, SO YOU'D BE SATISFIED AND QUIT WITH THE SUICIDAL TALK!" The brothers were stunned silent, giving Winry time to realize what she said and lose it, angry tears welling up and obstructing her vision. They were still shocked mute until the sound of Winry's sniffles hit them, and the trance broke. Al's expression became unreadable and Ed's appeared torn as the urge to argue that Recon Corps were necessary battled with the instinct to comfort a crying, puffy-eyed Winry. The urge to comfort won out however as something within his 8-year old body hurt more the longer he watched Winry rub her tears away over something that was entirely his fault.

"Winry I—"

"I'm going home! Leave me alone!"

With a flip of her straw-blonde hair, she took off as fast as her growing legs could take her towards her house, three blocks from their special spot by the canal. Forlornly watched by two little boys, the elder could imagine the tears drying in salty tracts down her cheeks as she ran. Ed swore abruptly, shaking the morose thoughts from his mind. He looked at his younger brother, miserably drooping now because he probably felt guilty about contributing to her tears. Some friends they were.

"C'mon Al. She'll be upset for awhile 'till she realizes she misses us, then she'll come running back."

"Really?" Al asked hopefully.

"Yeah…but let's go back home and work on her present more 'cause I think we're going to need it now…" Al shuddered lightly at the subtle agreement that Winry was going to whip them _good _later, but didn't blame her for the inevitability. Without her, there'd be no one except Mom to keep them in line. They both needed Winry as much as she needed them, and it was with that thought that Alphonse trotted home alongside his brother. Ed especially needed Winry, Al reflected lightly, with all the trouble he got into.

Neither boy noticed that in their quiet reflections they'd left the book behind.

**DUN DUN DUN I killed Winry's parents And she's on her way home pretty upset already…what's going to happen? How is she going to find out? Any guesses as to what Ed and Al are doing for Winry's birthday in a few days? **

**Soo…What do you think?! Reviews? YES? …no? Please review I love to hear from y'all, even if it's criticism, I'd like to know if there are any grammatical errors that bugged you, or if I appear to fall back on predictable patterns with plot-lines or with characters, or if I made them OOC…**

**Solve all your problems by reviewing! :D:D:D**


	3. Chapter 3

**I got a tip last chapter that Ed was being especially mean to Winry, and you're right I could have made him a lot nicer my bad I tried to keep his character in tune with the manga though, and not give into fanfic-like temptations to make Ed the SMOOTH DREAMBOAT we all want him to be towards Winry. Unfortunately, he does call her "rude words" in the manga like the B-word, that little jerk, I wish he hadn't:( I will try to make Ed nicer to Winry from now on though that's a promise. Here's a list of four things I need to get out in the open before I start-**

**1. BEWARE THERE IS GORE IN THIS CHAPTER, so just let me know if I need to up the rating, although to be frank I really don't want this to be an M fic because of reasons. **

**2. Also, yes Ling will join the crew later on along with LanFan. (I like him too:3) **

**3. Points to whoever catches a subtle Edwin reference I put in this, Manga-readers will understand.**

**4. I messed up last chapter by calling the Survey Corps "Recon Corps." I corrected that mistake this time, and later I might go back and edit last chapter to avoid any confusion Sorry **

**Disclaimer: Rights go to Arakawa for Fullmetal Alchemist and likewise the credits for Attack on Titan do not belong to me.**

**(2 years before the Fall of Wall Maria)**

"Hey little miss! Where you headed?"

"Winry dear, where you off too…."

"What's the rush?"

The comments from bystanders went ignored as the little girl continued sprinting through Eastern Resenbool district, wispy, fine strands of straw-colored hair glued to the back of her neck and forehead with sweat. Her crystal blue eyes glistened with frustrated tears, but she angrily swiped at them in mortification. She was such a crybaby! She hadn't meant to break down like that; she had wanted to talk her friends without emotion making her voice tremble and nose run in trickles.

House 475…House 479…

Two blocks to go and then she was home.

Ed and her had known each other literally since birth, so why didn't he understand why she was so upset? She could read him like an open book, and though Ed was dense and oblivious to everything that didn't pertain to the scientific method, he could tell when something bothered her. A flashback to a couple weeks ago uncurled from a corner of her memory;

_It was mid-afternoon; a broiling day at the height of summer, and the Survey Corps weren't due for another month. But there they were, filing into the city like hellish representations of grief and loss personified. A cry of alarm rose from civilians as they looked on in a bizarre mixture of horror and awe, gawping at the bloody bandages most of them sported and at lifeless bodies stacked wherever there were spare surfaces. _

_Ed and Al were on their way home from the library, while she had just come back from fetching borrowed tools from an old acquaintance of Granny's. It was hard not to notice the commotion, and the three were inevitably drawn to the source to see what happened. _

_She was pretty tall for a nearly 8 year-old, but she couldn't see anything from where she paced anxiously along the edges of the crowd. When she bumped into someone, she glanced over her shoulder to throw an apology out when her brief peek suddenly met with cropped light gold hair and a smiling face. _

"_Al?"_

"_Winry! Brother and I just got here, what's going on?" Al said curiously, nudging his brother who had been determinedly peering through cracks in between people's legs. Ed grunted when a fat man shifted in front of them, blocking his crack of sight. _

"_No idea, I just heard everyone crying from my way back from Granny's friend's house. I was running errands for her cause if I did she said she'd let me use her torque wrench in the shop. What are you guys doing here?"_

"_Mom sent us out to run errands too, we had to return overdue library books. Hey—Brotheeer!" Ed had suddenly grabbed both hers and Al's wrists in a vice-like grip. _

_At her gasp of surprise, Ed smirked and stated simply, "C'mon we're getting a better view!" Then he barred his teeth in an animalistic grin as he sharply led their way through the tumult, bumping and shoving their way through. "Finally!" Ed crowed upon securing a front row seat amidst anxious onlookers, tugging Winry up close to him when an old man pushed his way through rudely. "So that's what all the fuss is about…the Survey Corps huh?" He grumbled, topaz eyes perplexed, taking no notice of a wide-eyed Winry nestled close against his side. (Al noticed however, thoughtfully taking in her blush and dazed expression, though one could blame that on the heat and the hassle of beating back crowds. ) When the younger Elric's eyes ( after filing away the sight in his mind to think about later), slid to the commotion at hand, his dark gold eyes widened even bigger than his friend's and he gasped loudly. _

_Groups of soldiers either marched on foot or rode on magnificent mounts, coats just as battered and bloody as the troops they supported. They watched as one horse and rider suddenly stumbled on a loose cobblestone, its leg wobbling like it was battling to give up and winning. But at the crucial moment, with urgent pleading from its rider and encouraging slaps to the neck, the stead found its grace again and wearily recovered. _

_It struck her then that the steeds were just as exhausted as their masters, and they were bred to last through days of running…_

A stitch in her side pleaded desperately with her to slow down, but she determinedly pushed it out of her mind as she heaved and grunted in time to her fluttering heart. Winry paced herself by each slap of her pink sandals against the cool cobblestone, trying not to notice the aching in the pads of her feet from running in impractical foot ware. The constant running was exhausting and difficult, but Winry ran because that somehow felt good. Her head felt clearer when she ran like this, adrenaline pumping through tired muscles and helping her feel like a wind goddess, a thought she'd _never _share with Ed or Al. How could the horses stand this sort of treatment? Did they feel the same way or were they given energy through desperation?

_The soldiers of the Survey Corps continued to pass them by, most mounted upon spent horses, though there were men and a few women that were forced to walk alongside them as their steeds had been lost or slain by titans. Those soldiers were also the healthiest of the unit; she noticed that the injured rode upon horses as they were too disabled or ravaged to walk. _

_Winry barely recognized that Roy Mustang had made it back, a colleague of her father's she'd only seen on occasion, and was riding an inky black horse within the procession. A "tch!" from Ed at her side snapped the pieces together and she remembered. _

_Roy Mustang, Survey Corps squad leader, the squad more infamously known as the Mustang Squad. Ed may have been awed by the rest of the procession, but the admiration stopped at Mustang. Ed didn't like the man's attitude, or the man's hairstyle, or the man's anything. Something about Mustang just mysteriously made him want to grind his teeth together and rage. _

_Winry knew, but kept her thoughts to herself. A few weeks ago, She, Ed, and Al had been amongst the crowd to see them off. That was when Ed decided to seize the opportunity, and had darted out to snag a random squad member's stirrup. "What the?" A disgruntled man with a mop of black hair leaned over the saddle, Mustang. "What do you want kid?" He deadpanned, gazing at Edward with apathetic black eyes. _

"_What can I do to join you guys?"_

_Mustang snorted. "A puny kid like you wouldn't last a second out there, run along back to your mother." He made to shake off Edward's hands on his stirrups, but didn't need to after all as the boy stuttered to a halt, eyes blazing in indignation. _

"_WHO'RE YOU CALLING A….!"_

_Winry had been relieved that Mustang had brushed off his inquiry like he was warding off a fly. But looking at the resolution in Ed, even Al's eyes, as she stood there with them, her heart darkened with concern as she realized this wasn't over. _

"_When I'm enrolled in the Survey Corps, I'll show that idiot how it's done." Ed grouched beside her. Winry sighed. "I'm with you Brother!" Al crowed encouragingly. _

_But Winry knew if they joined, they'd come back looking as beat up and war-torn as the very soldiers that presently held their rapt attention. _

House 483…house 486… and house 488 passed by the juvenile blonde in a blur of bricks and stucco.

It suddenly hit her why she was so scared of Ed and Al joining the military. The real reason, the only reason that really mattered. By joining the Corps, they'd be going where she couldn't follow. Her parents had forbidden her from joining the most casualty-prone unit in the entire military. Winry knew in her heart she'd never go against her parents' wishes while they were alive and breathing, even if it hurt her that her closest friends would leave her eventually.

Though the running felt good initially, she knew that she hadn't done the proper warm ups before and probably should have stopped a long time ago, but a silly stubbornness to reach her house without stopping held her to persist in sprinting until her legs felt like burning rubber and her heart seemed to skip beats in exhaustion.

492…494…496….498-!

"Just…five more houses…to go!" Winry puffed. Making a sharp turn right to avoid two children involved in hopscotch, she suddenly slammed into a brick wall.

"Oh!" Winry wheezed disoriented, the wind hopelessly knocked out of her. Her stunned azure orbs couldn't help themselves and they shot up to meet the angriest, cruelest red eyes she had ever seen in her life. The man she had accidently surprise-attacked looked at her with malice sharp enough to cut into her soul and harvest her frantically racing heart, but before she had convinced herself to shove off and run like a battalion of titans were after her, the man slipped around her and continued on as if the encounter had never happened.

He never said a word, but the encounter would haunt her for years afterwards.

Winry only stood frozen to the spot in stunned fright for a moment more, before she was racing harder than ever to get back home so she could throw herself into the comforting arms of her parents. Her mind, now wiped slate-clean by panic, abruptly remembered that she had left her book back by the canal with Ed and Al. However; there was no way in heck she was going back to get it now!

499…house 503! Home!

With relief, Winry collapsed against the gatepost of her long driveway. She needed a quick breather…

***Break***

A BANG burst through the peaceful calm Trisha and her husband were enjoying when the front door unexpectedly slammed open, indirectly announcing the arrival of their children at Ed's characteristic grand entrance. Hohenheim glanced up from reading the newspaper as both his sons morosely stalked by the opening from the kitchen to the hallway and presumably on their way to their room. A half-hearted sounding greeting of "We're home," echoed from the hallway.

"You're home already? How was the walk?" Trisha's friendly question was met with unintelligible unhappy-sounding responses. "Is Winry with you two or did she go home?" This time she was met with a clear answer, "No she left," from her youngest, though his reply sounded muffled as they stomped upstairs.

"Well then…" Trisha frowned at Hohenheim, who was already standing up to talk to them. "I'll see what's bothering them, don't worry." His wife smiled in thanks and turned back to stirring the stew.

Upon arriving upstairs Hohenheim found his boys had sneakily locked their door from the inside. Grunting, the tall golden-haired man deftly picked a toothpick off the ledge above the boys' door and began to pick the lock with the ease of familiarity. When the lock clicked and the door swung smoothly open, Hoheheim stepped into the warm room among cries of outrage and shock.

"Edward, Alphonse, you know better than to lock…your…What is that?" The huge golden man had to clean his spectacles in shock, to make certain he wasn't seeing things and that his eldest really had been playing with a doll…

"N-N-NOTHING! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK! GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Ed cried in absolute panic, while Al simultaneously yelled, "We're making Winry's birthday present!"

Their father, sun-like eyes beginning to glimmer with a knowing look, nodded in acceptance and turned to step out, but paused a moment longer. "Well it's better late than never. Her birthday's only in a few more days!" He quickly shut the door after to avoid the sad excuse for a doll Ed had expertly thrown at his back.

Behind the closed door, Al sat in contemplation while Ed steamed and threw a fit for no apparent reason. Al felt like he forgot something, and he'd been feeling like that ever since they'd come home from playing with their friend. The gentle, well-mannered Elric scratched his chin a moment more before it dawned on him.

"Hey, Brother! We forgot Winry's book!" Ed halted the rant Al had tuned out of a while ago and bolted upright, squawking curses.

"We have to get it before some random guy picks it up! She won't forgive us if we lose her family heirloom!"

"Right!" Al shouted, fumbling to his feet in haste, grabbing his jacket and shoes while Ed did the same, then they were both dashing down the stairs.

"Boys! Where on Earth do you think you're going?" Mrs. Elric cried pushing past the kitchen entrance to watch in confusion as her sons scrambled for the front door knob.

"We left Winry's book outside!"

"We have to go back to the canal!"

Their answers jumbled into a mess she could only guess at. Trisha sighed. "Not this late you don't, Dinner's almost ready! I would have sent your father out to get you two by now if you were still out playing! If you have to go now, make sure you take him with you."

"Fine!" Ed groaned in annoyance. But as he reviewed taking the old man along to the canal, he straightened with insight. If their father had to go with them, maybe he'd let them walk a few blocks to drop off the book directly to Winry's porch so she wouldn't panic…

***BREAK***

"Whew! Home sweet home!" Panted Winry, now standing at the entrance to her lovely yellow three-floor house. Not many city residents got such a nice big house, but her daddy worked extra hard as an enlisted doctor and equipment specialist to earn them such a nice place, and Mom was one of the best medical specialists in the Military Police.

She couldn't wait to let her troubles fade away in the warm embrace of her mother, or to let Daddy cheer her up with jokes he picked up from work.

But before that she was going to take a bath.

When she reached to open the door however, to her surprise the door creaked back an inch, revealing a sliver of inside. _It's already open? Dad must have forgotten to shut it, how odd…_

Winry calmly pushed it open the rest of the way.

An acrid odor bombarded her nose instantly and Winry gagged, narrowly avoiding choking as the pungent aroma overwhelmed her. It was dark inside, but the fading light of the sunset behind her cast adequate illumination upon a pile of clothing on the floor just by the door.

Something broke in Winry's chest, something that just before was soft and pink, innocent having never known hardship or heartache, and full of so much love and genuine affection it'd make angels weep proudly. It just did, it just burst. It broke into a million pieces at the sight of her mother's grayish intestines in a puddle at her feet, and the deep crescent indent on the side of her skull oozing something pink in rivers of scarlet. It shriveled wordlessly at the sight of her father underneath her mother, who looked like he was asleep in the midst of a crimson ocean, the color also trickling out his ear and mouth.

Her cries of horror reached the heavens.

"MOM! MOOOOOMMYYYYYYYY! MOM NO, NO MOMMY…M-MOMMY?! Mamma wake up please please wake up. Please wake up mom. Momma."

Winry fell into the muck of crimson, digging her hands into her mother's arm, shaking her roughly. She couldn't see anything but blurry red and straw-yellow, her sight inexplicably lost.

"Mom, mom, mom…MOOOOOOM! D-Daddy? Daddy can you hear me? Tell Mom to wake up! Daddy, Daddy, can you hear me? DADDY You have to wake up! Wake up daddy!"

Winry sobbed, her body racking so violently she could hardly breathe. Her numb fingers cupped her father's face, thumbs swiping past the blood that coated it. She cried even harder so that she couldn't form any more words past her deadened lips.

Eventually, the shaking ceased as Winry fell to unconsciousness in the pools of liquid, her nearly 8-year old body overtaxed and crumpled up against the corpses.

**This was gorier that I'd planned, and also heartbreaking for me. I really hope I got Winry's tragic reaction right and that it wasn't cheesy, but honestly I wrote it as truthfully as I could. I wrote this while imagining what it'd feel like to find my parents like this so this is partly my reaction to the horror….I really hope Winry isn't OOC here. **

**This chapter bothers me…it feels like it's missing something, but after rereading this thing like fifteen times I still can't pinpoint what. Oh well…**

**Reviews are welcome **


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so I've been asked what "Titans" are…they are giant humanoids that can range in size anywhere from 5 to 15 meters. Usually hideously disfigured, parts of their bodies are often disproportionate to the rest of them, and THEY EAT PEOPLE LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW. If you watch the show it's pretty dark believe me I like watched half of it through cracks between my fingers. **

**Also I think I stated before that there are parallels between Petra and Riza, and Levi and Roy…You're just going to have to wait to see I stick with a certain death scene hehehehehe XD I'm trying to incorporate plotlines from both animes, as you might notice…**

**TheMistOfThePast—Yay you caught it:DD I'd like to thank you for agreeing with me too about Winry. I think mercy, compassion, and 'healing hands' are strengths rather than weaknesses, no? Girls are too often portrayed as violent and masculine to attract a male fanbase as there's no "sissy girls" in it. But when feminism is done right, it's a beautiful thing. Girls are real people too, you know? We aren't all DEATH WILL HAVE NO PSYCOLOGICAL EFFECT ON ME WHATSOEVER AND IMMA CUT YOU BECAUSE IM TOUGH. Nurturing is a good thing. Ed and Al got where they were because they had strong female role models like Izumi and Winry who nurtured them…ok emotional rant over. **

**BloodRosePetals—I wrote 200 more words than I usually do haha hope it impresses you! :D The length in each chapter is amazingly constant! I'm pretty surprised! The reason my chapters are generally the length they are is because I write until I feel like it's a natural place to break. Apparently I always think that around 3,000 words in. Oops?**

**Much EdxWin in this chapter, will build towards deeper stuff as I go along…**

**Special thanks to TheBlondeDemon'sCreed and Not so Human for reviewing every chapter:) :) ! **

**Disclaimer: Shingeki No Kyojin does not belong to me, and likewise Fullmetal Alchemist. I prefer it this way though because then I CAN WRITE THIS CRAZINESS!**

**(Thursday night, Rockbell Residence, 2 years before the Fall of Wall Maria)**

By now it was getting chilly out, the warm summer evening evaporating into indigo dusk. In the light left over from the cooling orange on the horizon, Edward, his brother, and father made their way steadily towards the Rockbell home. Street lamps were just starting to come on, one by one, as Alphonse trailed behind his father and brother.

He didn't understand why, but he couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't right. Something in the way the humid summer night felt hummed with something different, like it was laying in wait. Ahead, Ed looked behind him. "Al keep up we're almost there!"

The tepid summer air continued to swirl thickly around the three ambiguously as Al picked up his pace.

Finally, the long, circular court of the officer's housing came in view along with Winry's distinctive yellow house, on the end of a very long driveway. Her house was the last one on the block, a relatively long walk away from where they were standing. Ed's impatience must have revved at thinking the same thing, because he said, "Hey race you guys! Sooner we drop this off we can get dinner!" And he took off.

Their chaperone sighed long-sufferingly. "Go on with your brother Alphonse, I'll catch up." Gulping down his previous anxiety, Al chirped, "'Kay Dad! But hurry!" and sprinted as hard as he could to catch up, though he knew it was a lost cause. No one could beat Ed in a race.

By the time Al slapped a hand to the house's railing, Ed was busily nursing an inflated ego with his two sandal-clad feet planted proudly at the top of the steps. "What took you so long?" Ed crooned snarkily through a face-splitting grin. Al laughed happily. "Okay you win Brother! But next time you won't 'cause I won't let you have a head start!" Ed only sneered, bursting with self-confidence. "Okay bawbwee bruthurrr! I'll go nice and slow for you next time if that'll make you feel better!"

Al punched him in the shoulder to communicate that words failed to describe the amount of _bull_ in that sentence. Still snorting at his own wit, Ed held his hands up in truce.

"The old man's almost here, stop it Al! I don't want _chores _if he catches you punching me." Al complied, quickly forgiving him for two reasons; One, he won most of their fights anyway, this was nothing. Two—he didn't want chores either, because he actually did them unlike_ Brother. _

(Their father stomped up the final stretch of the drive, and unfortunately he had seen the whole thing but decided not to comment. There wasn't anything wrong with what they were doing; he reasoned. His eldest had probably deserved it and besides it was harmless.)

"We should knock on Winry's door now Brother."

"Oh, yeah. Hand me the book Al." Al reached to hand it to him and Ed snatched it from his hands, stepping forward to knock.

"You probably also only won because I had to carry this heavy book."Al piped up. Ed snorted in response, back facing him.

"Shut up…"

All of a sudden, Al saw his brother jump in surprise. "What's this dark stuff on the ground? It's all over the place…" Al watched as Ed shrugged and raised his hand to knock on the paneled wood when the door swung inward at the soft nudge. "What…the door's open too?" He heard him mumble.

Ed pushed the door open the rest of the way, and instantly went rigid. Al was about to tap him on the shoulder and ask what was wrong when a wall of stench hit him full force and he reeled back on instinct.

"Brother what's wrong? Where's that _smell_ coming from?!" "Brother—"

He was cut off by a weird, gargling, choking sound from Edward. "W-Winry…" Ed choked in shock.

"BROTHER! What about Winry?" But his cries went unheard as Edward abruptly dove through the doorway, banging the door sideways so Al could finally see what was inside. Ed had thrown himself onto a pile of clothing covered in blackish liquid, shaking what appeared to be a bundle of straw hair and pale legs wrapped in a white sundress

"WIIIIIIIIIIIINRRRYYYYYY!" Edward screamed in agony.

Al's eyes widened in stupefied horror. Nononononononononono this couldn't be real…this couldn't be happening….

No.

"FAAAATHEERR HEEEEELP!" Al screamed in terror, but couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of his brother frantically shaking their best friend, sobbing so hard his body racked with each breath. With a howl of despair, Ed gave up and buried his head into Winry's nest of hair, embracing her with naked grief.

He knelt with her in his arms in the middle of her parents' corpses.

Their father suddenly burst upon them, his usually mellow physique carved into a fierce mask of panic and primeval rage, his massive, imposing frame thrumming with power and a readiness to use whatever means necessary to ensure the protection of his children. Corded muscles Al never noticed on his father before were flexed and prepared to fight or take flight.

His brilliant sun-god eyes took in the scene in a moment, and his face hardened into the face of the ex-Survey Corps General he was. "Get behind me son." Hohenheim spoke in a soft tone which brooked no argument.

He brushed past Alphonse to kneel at Edward's side, instantly soaking his trousers in the pools of blood.

Ed either didn't notice or didn't care, clutching Winry's frail form to him all the harder. But his broken golden eyes gazed back at his father, cold and distant. "Go away old man." Edward choked out between tears. Hohenheim met his son's heartbroken gaze with his own grave one.

"If you allow me to Edward, I can check her pulse. Winry could still be alive."

His oldest son looked torn, but he grudgingly removed himself from her just far enough so his father could reach two fingers to her neck.

"She's breathing."

Edward choked in shock, and so many emotions flashed through his shimmering, tearful eyes at once that it left him trembling in silence for a long moment. "Winry's alive?" He asked, with an unreadable expression.

Out of the blue, Winry shifted slightly in his arms, whispering something in her sleep he couldn't quite make out.

The effect the slight movement had on Edward was indescribable. A tenderness people would had deemed him incapable of having crept over his face, as he reverently cupped one of Winry's small, calloused hands to his cheek. "S-stupid machine j-junkie…you're ok-kay." He hiccupped.

A few steps away, Alphonse lifted his head, hope shining from his eyes. "She's alright?" Al asked hesitantly, his voice wobbly and uncertain.

"Yes, but we need to get her to the hospital as fast as we can. Alphonse, can you stand?" The traumatized 7-year old rose shakily to his feet; he hadn't even noticed he'd fallen to his knees.

"Edward, I need you to walk your brother home—"

"I'm not leaving her!" Ed cut in vehemently, eyebrows drawn into a "V" across his forehead in determination.

Hohenheim pressed his lips together in a grim line. "Then you'll have to stick close by my side on the way to the hospital. Hold Alphonse's hand and don't let go, can I trust you?"

Edward "tched," as if saying, "Are you kidding me?"

"Now we have to—"

"Father?"

"…yes Alphonse?"

"I think the…other…b-b-b-bodies are Winry's Mom and Dad." Al's simple statement chilled the blood in Edward's body. He had known that, but he had been so absorbed with his _friend's_ death…

"We can't leave them like this." Ed said firmly.

Van Hohenheim looked at his son with an unreadable expression.

"What do you mean by 'like this' Edward?"

Edward turned to stare at the dead faces of his best friend's parents. For 8 years, he had grown up looking up to them as 'auntie' Sara and 'uncle' Urey. They were warm, friendly people who had welcomed him and his brother into their home to play with their daughter, and had been the only adults other than his parents that were comfortable enough with him to reprimand him or his brother when they were rude. Auntie Sara came over often to swap recipes with his mother or to sit and chat about their lives, husbands, and children. Uncle Urey saw them to them specially for no fee when they were sick, with the excuse that friends didn't charge friends.

They had been a happy fixture of his life that he'd never imagined life without.

"We…we can't leave them here, sprawled in the hallway like…like—" Ed paused, sucking in a breath to steady himself. "Let's put them in their bedroom. Then we take Winry to the hospital."

His father nodded slowly. "Let's hurry, then. Winry could have hidden injuries, it's important to get her medical attention as soon as possible." Hohenheim stood up, regarding the grisly corpses of his old friends. Something suspiciously close to a tear glinted down his strong cheek.

"You boys…shouldn't have had to see this. Forgive me." And with that their father picked up Sara Rockbell's remains, carrying her bridal-style down the hall towards the bedroom.

_His sons were too old for their age, _the tall golden-eyed man reflected as he lifted Urey's corpse, slinging an arm around the torso to support it as he walked. _This is something 8 year old boys are never supposed to see…yet…_

_Edward handled it with wisdom beyond his years._

***BREAK***

**(Resembool district St. Maria Hospital, 2 years before the Fall of Wall Maria)**

The hospital clerk sat primly at her desk, quietly jotting down pharmaceutical orders and neat signatures on medical forms. Her shift would end in about 10 minutes, and she was ready to go home and take a nice long nap. She was just starting to consider the merits of taking a much-needed shower as well when the double front doors banged against the plaster walls.

The lady watched in shock as an enormous, muscular man with a neat golden ponytail stride through the hospital entrance covered head-to-toe in gore.

"Aaaaaaaaaah haaah..." She garbled, stunned.

On each side of the man strode two-equally blood-bathed boys with golden hair and dark, fierce expressions.

The tall blonde man slammed a fist to the counter. "My name is Van Hohenheim, and we need immediate medical assistance for this young lady." That's when the clerk noticed the said girl tossed over one broad shoulder, one of the man's massive arms holding her carefully in place. She sputtered, having originally assumed the bundle of white-red cloth was a lumpy towel as it was the most blood-soaked out of all of them.

"O-o-of c-course, j-just hand on a-a second and I-I'll get you a room!" She cried, terrified. She rang for security. A minute later, two burly Garrison men rushed into the lobby and skidded to a halt at the sight of three pairs of intimidating golden eyes glaring at them from blood-soaked attire.

"You called M'am?" Said the braver of the two, eyeing the father-and-sons trio uncertainly.

"I need you to a-assist these gentlemen to the shower stalls, if that's no trouble—"

"We're not leaving her!" One of the boys suddenly piped up, bristling angrily.

The clerk's eyes widened in discomfort, "B-but you're a hazard to the rest of the patients and hospital personnel if you do not decontaminate—"

"Edward, Winry will be fine in their care and we do need to shower. Also, as for the escorts—We won't be needing those. We can get to the utilities just fine on our own."

"B-but-!" stuttered the clerk, but was once again cut off by the loud-mouthed midget.

"BUT…..AAAGH!" Edward bellowed, but seeing the logic in what his father said, instead growled lowly and turned towards the other boy.

"If we can't go in with Winry, then we'll just have to shower as fast as we can! C'mon Al!"

The boys rushed off towards the restrooms, which doubled as shower stalls, clearly forgetting that they'd need a clean change of clothes in their haste.

Van turned towards the clerk once more. "You'll supply an extra change of clothes?" She nodded. "We'll get them scrubs in a minute. I just paged Doctor Marcoh, he's waiting for you in room 302. Is there anything else?" Hohenheim's gaze darkened.

"After I return from dropping the child off, I need to phone my wife."

"Yes, yes. Of course."

Van Hohenheim marched quickly down the hallway and vanished around a corner. She let out a relieved breath.

"Um, do you still need us for anything M'am?" Asked the Garrison cadet from before. The clerk jumped guiltily, she had almost forgotten that they were there.

"Uh yes! Would you mind fetching two sets of clean children's clothes and one men's?"

***BREAK***

Tim Marcoh softly clicked the door closed behind him, his dark grey eyes rising to meet spectacled golden ones. "How is she?" Hohenheim asked quietly, his two showered, clean, sons asleep on his lap, having finally given into the stress and exhaustion of the past few hours.

Marcoh began working off his plastic disposable gloves.

"Winry's doing wonderfully; she's as healthy as a horse. There were no wounds, internal or external, that I could find. Though I fear mentally however, is a whole other story, if what you've told me is true."

"So she must have arrived after her parents were killed and collapsed from shock."

"Yes, most likely."

"Hmm." Van Hohenheim hummed in contemplation.

"This probably traumatized them."

"Who?"

"My sons. They shouldn't have seen this." Marcoh was silent in response, answering the man's statement with solemn nonverbal agreement.

"This is an entirely different topic, but Urey was an old acquaintance of mine and I'm curious…Do you know who murdered Urey and Sara Rockbell?"

"No, Alphonse, Edward, and I arrived probably hours after they were killed. The savagery with which their bodies were subjected to would have made me think "titans", but as you know, titans haven't penetrated the walls since they were erected 100 years ago."

"No, you're right…none have penetrated the walls from the _outside." _

"…Indeed."

Hohenheim was jolted out of the conversation when Ed shifted in his lap, turning over to yawn widely.

"…That crack-pot doc done with Winry yet?" Edward sleepily muttered.

Marcoh gave a gruff snort. "Your friend is healthy and perfectly safe, you're free to go in and see her if you want."

"Really? How long was I out?!" Ed sat up, abruptly wide-eyed and awake. "Hey, Al, wake up! _Wake up!_" While Edward was impatiently shaking the sleep from his younger brother's bleary eyes, Hohenheim's own tired eyes popped open in horror.

"I neglected to call Pinako…"

Marcoh gestured towards his office, three doors to the left. "You should definitely call the girl's grandmother, or she'll help with scheduling _your_ funeral." He deadpanned.

The tall man paled miserably, waiting until Alphonse and Edward eagerly stampeded into the hospital suite before he reluctantly got up and trudged to pick up Marcoh's telephone.

Hohenheim felt like he was about to wet himself with terror, but he gulped and reasoned that if he had told Trisha, Sara's best friend and _his wife_, he could tell Pinako.

"P-pinako…" He gulped a greeting into the receiver.

"_Weeeell hello Hohenheim, 'bout time. What do you want old man?" _ Her cantankerous voice crackled sharply through the line.

With a sudden lump in his throat, Hohenheim began.

***BREAK***

Winry looked like death warmed over.

Her shoulder-length straw blonde hair was strewn limply over her pillow, strands tangled and matted with flecks of dried blood. Her hands were placed serenely across her chest, folded over her heart and clavicle. The florescent lights played tricks with her skin, making Winry appear to glow with an ethereal paleness that accentuated the dark circles under her eyes.

She was so still and frail-looking, the opposite of how she always seemed to glow from the inside out of liveliness and health, her cheeks rosy from laughing and sky-blue eyes streaming with sly mirth.

This wasn't Winry. Winry was a chipper, hard-working girl that'd kick his butt whenever it came to manual labor.

Seeing Winry Rockbell like this, the toughest girl he knew, bed-ridden and suffering from heartbreak, caused his chest to painfully tighten. Shyly, Ed reached forward until he could tug lightly on a strand lemony hair.

"Wake up gear-head, it's weird without you. We—I miss you…"

Alphonse observed his brother's ministrations contently, thinking to himself that something had changed in his older brother, something good. There was a softness in his face as he gently played with a lock of Winry's hair that hadn't been there this morning.

Looking down, there was also another new thing about him he had only just noticed.

"Brother?" Al touched his arm in curiosity, "What's that in your pocket?"

Ed met his innocently inquiring gaze, obviously taken aback. "What, you mean this headband?" Ed asked, pulling the item out of his back pocket, "I…I found it on the floor by the door of the house. I think her mom got if for her for her birthday, it has her initials sown on underneath. Don't know why they left it on the floor though…"

"Probably maybe because they were looking at it when the…when it happened, and it dropped…"

"Oh. Yeah, that. M-maybe." The two were quiet for a moment. Then Al's eyes lit up with optimism.

"It somehow missed getting stained from all the guck! Close save, Brother."

Besides them, the blonde stirred, eyelashes fluttering weakly.

"Winry?" Al gasped.

Her body flopped over at his voice, forehead wrinkling in a frown. "Al..phonse?" The blonde croaked, eyes stubbornly closed against the bright light. Then twin slivers of brilliant blue cracked open against the harsh lighting. "..I'm in a hospital gown?" Winry groaned louder, propping herself up by her elbows, blinking herself awake.

The boys watched speechless as she took in the small hospital room through squinted eyes. "Where am I?" She asked, baffled.

"You don't remember?" Ed murmured, but his voice carried across the still room.

"I think I'm in a hospital…but nope I have no idea how I got here. What…why are you holding a pink handkerchief?" Winry pointed at the bandana Ed held in his shaking palms.

"It's a headband, or bandana actually, something that your mother…"

Winry gasped. "Wait, I'm in a hospital…You found me, didn't you?"

"Al was there with me, so was my old man..."

"Does…does that mean my mom and dad are okay too?"

Edward, an 8-year boy who had little-to-no tact in even the best situations, felt corned by Winry's searching blue eyes and panicked.

"I d-don't know, I don't believe in H-heaven…or Hell."

In the silence that followed, they could have heard a pin drop from the top of Wall Maria to the street below a hundred meters away.

Winry looked down, bangs shading her eyes from view.

"Hea….Heaven," Winry whimpered brokenly, "They'd g-go to Heaven!"

The small bubble of hope the brothers had frantically clung to that Winry would be alright popped.

Curling herself into a ball, the dam broke and the girl burst into heavy sobs.

**Starting next chapter, the plot progresses past most of the 'backstory phase' and you might see some Titans… Reviews? (Can someone tell me how to section breaks? FFN used to make it easy!)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Unusually short Author's note at the top Am I Right? (I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING BUT THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY DEAL WITH IT). **

**Disclaimer: I don't pretend to hold any rights to FMA or AoT, let's be straightforward here. **

**(Saturday, 2 years before The Fall)**

The Funeral was held two days after Winry was discharged from the hospital, with a printed physical confirming Ms Rockbell was at the peak of health.

Her Granny had arrived long before she had time to settle in with the Elrics, damp from the brief drizzle they had earlier that morning. Upon seeing her granddaughter, the deceptively spry old woman whisked her into a hard embrace, a single stubborn tear streaking down her gruff, wizened face. "An Idiot called with all the details. I know what happened, I'm here."

Without replying, Winry only buried her face deeper into the familiar grease-stained apron.

Later, with help from saddened neighbors and Mr. Elric, Winry and her Granny moved into the old three-floor yellow house. Able men with strong stomachs helped transfer the couple's remains from their bed to settle into twin coffins. Pinako insisted on leaving the windows open, to waft out the stench of decay and maggots, even when the cooler breeze at night chilled them in their sleep.

Winry passed the coffins in the living room every time Granny called her in to eat breakfast. Eventually she avoided the room altogether by insisting her Granny bring her meals to her bedroom.

The girl wept herself to sleep that night, and the next.

Now, standing in the mushy, rain-watered earth of the community cemetery, the straw-blonde weaved in and out through a forest of other griever's legs, hoping to find someone.

Two someones, actually.

It was her birthday today.

She narrowly avoided tripping over a rip in the astro-turf, her nose runny from the cold she had procured in her weakened, miserable state, and just managed to shift out of the way in time for Mrs. Renback, plowing through the assembled mourners in search of her wayward children.

The woman's spiky, impractical brown stilettos nearly impaled Winry's tiny sandal-clad feet. Pressed against a tombstone for safety, Winry had just loosened her spooked muscles when she felt a hand excitedly clasp her shoulder. Paninya's smiling brown face, when Winry turned around to see, brought an unexpected lump of disappointment to her throat, though it quickly dissipated as the energy emanating from her gal-pal's expression slightly lifted the mantle of sorrow from her heart.

"Hey, I was hoping to find you! Happy Birthday buddy! And, uhh-" Paninya awkwardly cleared her throat, clearly trying to express some remorse over their current circumstance, "-uhh I'm, you know very sorry about your parents. So here's a gift I hope, no, _know _will make you feel a little better!" The girl thrust a messily-wrapped brown into her numb hands.

"Thank-you…" Winry started but trailed off. Any curiosity she might have had for the gift quickly left her as she caught a flash of gold hair out of the corner of her eye. "Haveta go, thanks Paninya!" Taking a little consideration, Winry hugged her friend's side and left off in the direction she thought she had seen Alphonse Elric's spiky mop.

Instead, she bumped into a slender brown-haired lady. "'Scuse me…" Winry muttered, before glancing up to meet Trisha Elric's inquisitive emerald eyes. Unsure if she could face a compassionate person just yet, Winry tried to slip around the woman when a gentle voice coaxed her to look up.

Mrs. Elric bent her knees until she was at her eyelevel. "I see you were looking for someone, can I help?" She said sweetly.

Winry huffed, defeated and saddened. "I can't find Ed and Al anywhere. They said they'd come to this...Auntie Trisha, why do they always trick me? They're not mean, not really, but I really wanted them to be here for this. This must mean they don't care about me at all…"

"Boys show their feelings differently, Winry. I know for a fact that Edward and Alphonse both care about you a lot, they talk about things they did with you all the time. And don't worry, they came. They're somewhere around here, just wait until after the services and I'm sure you'll find them."

"Okay, thanks…"

"One more thing sweetheart. I know a thing or two about Mothers, and your Momma was special. She's with you right now, do you feel her?"

Winry frowned in confusion. "What?"

"You meant the world to her, just like your father, and they'll always watch over you because you have a memory of them in your heart. Live for them, and make them proud. I'm very certain you're already making them proud, actually. You're an incredible little girl Winry. Don't forget."

At the earnestness in Trisha's eyes, Winry felt a ray of sunshine shine through her soul, thawing her cold, numb body. Hope.

With a kiss to her forehead, Mrs. Elric straightened her skirts and glided off, leaving a pensive young lady in her wake.

The service lasted forty minutes, of which Winry spent clenching her fists so hard it left crescent indents in her palms, crying in gratitude and bitterness when individuals stood forth to pay their respects, and thinking about what Mrs. Elric had told her. Was it true? Could her Mom and Dad really see her? Where they watching over her now?

Well if there were, she'd live on. She'd move on from this dark spot and everything would be alright.

She'd make the memories of her parents proud by living on in their work, continuing what they practiced to help thousands of others.

Her hands would help others find their hope.

As the procession slowly filed out after an hour of lingering and socializing, Winry stood stalwartly by her parents, rooted to the spot over their graves. Grievers, walking by to pay last-minute respects, respectfully kept their distance, understanding she needed her space.

Winry reached a hand out to slowly trace her father's initials.

U…R…E…Y…R…O…C…K…B…E…L…L

Underneath them were inscribed "Beloved Husband and Father, cheerfully brought light to other's dark worlds. (1873-1908.)" Winry shifted her gaze over to her mother's headstone, which sweetly stated, "Beloved Wife and Mother, whose skills in medicine brought hope to many. (1872-1908.)"

Silently her fingers began to trace hers as well.

S…A…R…A…R…O…C…K…B…E—

"Hey, Winry."

"Winry!"

Winry turned to meet the both indecipherable gazes of two golden-haired boys, be-decked in matching miniature suits. They looked pretty uncomfortable.

"Al and I tried to find you earlier, we looked everywhere! We saw you during the service, but by then it was too late, so we followed you here."

"Brother and I were waiting for you to finish paying your respects, but you've been here for awhile and…um…"

"I didn't want to wait any longer to give this to you. Here, hold still a sec." To her surprise, Ed advanced until he was nose to nose with her (or her nose to his eye), and gently swept the hair out of her face.

Her little gasp at his shockingly cold hands on her forehead broke the sternness off Ed's face, his mouth quirking into a light-hearted smirk as he looped a headband around her neck and over her hair. After the action was completed, and he had arranged her hair how he liked it, (by strategically leaving two strands out to frame her face), he stepped back to admire it with a grin.

"What do you think Alphonse? Does it make her look like a birthday girl?"

"Yeah! It looks really pretty on you Winry, it brings out your eyes!" Flushing a little with the praise, Winry's lips turned upward slightly in the corners.

"I'm happy you guys remembered, thank-you." Winry said sincerely, lightly prodding the material with one hand, the other preoccupied with keeping Paninya's wrapping-paper bomb crooked against her side.

"Oh, that's not from us..." Ed started, "We found it when we found you, I think Auntie Sara made it specially for your birthday, it has your initials sown on it."

"What?" Winry gasped.

"Winry! Brother and I made this for you, I hope you like it as much as your Mom's present!"

"Hold on Al, did you find this when…wait, is that a doll?

"Yeah we tried to make it look like you too! See, it has blue button eyes just like yours!" Al pointed to the special detail on their careful craftsmanship, eagerly cradled in his outstretched palms.

"I love it Al!" Winry delicately took it from him, cradling it like he had, eyes suspiciously moist all of the sudden. Upon close inspection, the amount of detail in the little thing was flattering. So this is how they saw her?

"Don't cry Winry, sorry it's homemade but it's the best we could do." To her surprise, Winry realized Ed has misinterpreted the moisture in her eyes. The little seed of hope that had been planted within her earlier grew in gratitude of her friends, filling her with a burst of warmth.

"You dope! I really love it! C'mere you two!"

She launched herself at the pair, unfortunately underestimating the force of her spring and overestimating the Elric brother's preparedness for a random flying-love tackle.

All three children squished to a muddy landing in the middle of a rain puddle. Edward started to loudly protest, and squirmed furiously to get up from the bottom, while Al yelped in shocked glee.

"Hahaha that's fun Winry! You got mud all over everything! AGAIN!"

"GGAH You're squishing me gear head, I didn't know you were so heavy! Get off of me—" He was cut off by laughter. Winry's laughter. His scheduled rant stumbled to a stop, shocked golden eyes incredulous. Tears of mirth streamed down her cheeks, and Ed worriedly wondered if she'd snapped from the grief, or if she was really sobbing so hard that it only _sounded _like laughter, until Alphonse joined in, giggling.

In complete wonder, Ed watched two of the most important people in the world to him lose their marbles. He had barely formed that thought before a carefree idea of _What the Heck,_ flashed across his head before he tilted his head back and roared with his own amusement at the absurdity of it all.

This was insane.

"You guys are so precious, you know that?" Winry declared as she calmed down, "You both really cheered me up, thanks. I'm glad that…you were the ones to find me. I glad that in this world, there's something that will always remain constant. We'll always be friends, won't we?" She asked seriously, cerulean orbs peering solemnly down at the mud-soaked boys.

Ed and Al widened their mouths in simultaneous grins, agreeing with her unanimously.

"Yeah! Of course I'll be Winry!" Al laughed.

"Yes your greasiness." Ed deadpanned, wickedly.

"…That's clever, Ed. Very clever…hold on just a minute."

Paninya's birthday present to Winry was a brand-new wrench, Ed discovered.

The pain was worth it, however; to see the bright, beautiful smile on a bright, beautiful girl.

On the even brighter side, the disorientation caused from the direct hit allowed him to see three versions of it at once!

When Winry arrived home, Granny in tow, her spirit felt freer than she had any right to feel, given that her parent's double funeral was today.

Pinako noticed, and was inexpressibly relieved. Miracles aren't real, they say. _Well take a gander at my granddaughter!_ The elderly woman morbidly cackled inside.

One of the additions to the Rockbell household Pinako has brought with her was Den, an excitable mutt Winry had only gotten to see before on occasion, whenever she visited her Granny. The dog had always doted on her granddaughter, and to see the mutual love and affection between her and Winry helped alleviate the depression Pinako felt at the loss of her only son.

She had decided to move in to properly raise her granddaughter. There was no way she'd ask an already heartbroken Winry to move away from the friends she's had for 8 years.

Along with the shift in guardianship came a more readily accessible arsenal of machinery, automail, and in general random junk. Under Pinako's careful eye, Winry learned to fine-tune automail with expertise, and even voyage into understanding the simpler, cruder workings of Three-Dimensional maneuver gear.

Winry was excelling in every project she took on, to Pinako's great pride. The reason seemed to have something to do with the steely determination in her sapphire gaze, an aspect of Winry that didn't used to be there. That was why, at age 9 Pinako decided it was time to step it up a notch. Winry's first automail surgery was performed one late afternoon, as the first traces of fall were just beginning to cloud the windowpanes with frost.

The man they performed on was a screamer. He'd cry whenever a drill bit through tissue to secure a bolt to the bone, or when he pulled his own stitches twisting in agony.

Pinako was long used-to it, and it failed to distract her work anymore. But she was still mindful of Winry's greenness, and so paid careful attention to how she reacted whenever the patient got mouthy. At first, nothing surprised her with Winry's initial reactions; she'd jump whenever he screamed, or simply stare in horrified shock at the amount of blood that resulted from port-prep.

But soon, much sooner than Pinako had as a beginner, Winry learned to keep her cool. Eventually, as the hours waxed by, a particularly blood-curdling scream would do nothing but make her twitch.

Five hours in, they slipped morphine into his IV tap and took a dinner break.

"Granny, how did the man lose his arm?" Winry asked, honestly curious.

Pinako nearly dropped her glass of milk in shock, but who was she to deny an inquiring mind answers?

"He works in the Survey Corps. While in the field, his squad ran into a 12-meter titan which only he, his horse, and a few bags of supplies managed to survive. His arm got bitten clean off when he attacked it out of desperation, managing to severely wound its eyes enough so he could get away. Why?"

Winry, who had been listening carefully to every detail, shook her head in casual dismissal. "Just wondered. Should we get back to work?"

Grunting in affirmation, they stood up in tandem to finish the job.

Of course, Pinako knew the _real_ reason Winry had asked. She, Edward, and Alphonse had been spending a lot of time together recently, and talk of their plans to join the one military branch that would kill them monopolized the majority of their conversations.

In addition to which, Ed had been showing up especially regularly, coming up with the lug-headed excuse that Al was 'sick' and couldn't play with them, or that Al wanted to stay inside and help Mom (as their Dad had been going off on 'business trips' more and more frequently…)

That pipsqueak was up to something, Granny could just feel it… She ought to start beating him off with sticks instead of short jokes. Hah! What would make more sense than an old woman beating midget suitors back with a cane?

Winry obviously wasn't doing it right with her wrenches if that pipsqueak was still hanging around.

When Winry was 10, two years and a half after the death of her parents to the day, she put aside her customary attire of black tube tops and cargo pants and wore a pink, floral sundress for the first time in what seemed like forever. She brushed her sunny hair back with her favorite bandana, keeping the rest down in a loose curtain of silky hair, but kept two strands out to frame her face.

"Well, Granny, I'm off! See you in a couple hours!" She called, beautiful face painted the picture of innocence.

"You're off to the Elric's I suppose?" The elderly woman gruffly guessed.

"I'll be back soon _geez_. Auntie Trisha said she made me a cake! And I can't wait to see what those guys got me this time! Mei and Paninya are coming too, you should see how obvious Al's little crush is! On both of them that little player…See you later!"

Pinako cackled after the door shut. "Aaah, youth."

Hard to believe she had managed to survive guardianship over such a fiesty young thing for two years.

**Only 7 pages :( I'm cutting this chapter in half, Titans will finally make their appearance in the next part I PROMISE! Enough EDxWIN hints? I swear I just want to stop the plot so I can catch up on FLUFF, which I think should be the heart and soul of every story! But noooo smexy times between 2 eight-year olds is hard to pull off so I decided to wait until they're a little older…**

**Let me know if this seemed choppy to you. Does it? I thought so so I went back and edited in a lot of "filler" scenes and details…I tried to write differently here to pass the time span of two years. Tried the whole "snapshot" technique. Wonder if it worked XD So let me know! **

**You know, it's a common writing technique to end every chapter with a cliffhanger so readers stay hooked…did you catch mine? I don't do subtly you're probably reading this very sentence and thinking "Duh man, cap obv much?" Sooooo…please keep reading:) **


	6. Chapter 6

**Haha oops I was going to end last chapter by stating it was once again Winry's birthday, and that she was going over to the Elric's house to have a party…but then I realized the obvious. EVERYTHING BAD CAN'T HAPPEN ON THE SAME DAY! That'd be too tragic for poor Winry, so I DID change that part but I accidentally left in "Auntie Trisha's gonna make me a cake! And all my friends will be there!" Which now sounds out-of place, forgive me. I'm slipping, I should probably get a beta…**

**WARNING: TITANS v. EVERYONE IN WALL MARIA…who will come make it out alive?**

**Blood, blood everywhere. Imagine that picture of Buzz and Woody captioned like so, it's pretty accurate. **

**If you're into this fic for the blood and guts, you're welcome to skip the first break and start there, as that's where the actual plot starts. The opening is just a brief, mindless fluff fest, as I had to make Paninya and Mei appear to preserve continuity between chapters. As a result, the mood plunges drastically from cute and fluffy to death, angst, and Armageddon. If you don't want to ride that emotional rollercoaster, it's fine by me but I know for ME I was always into fics for the FLUFF;)**

**Disclaimer: **_**Shingeki no Kyojin**_** and **_**Fullmetal Alchemist**_** do not belong to me. That'd be a lot to handle…**

**(The Day of the Fall, 10:00 am)**

"Brother slipped out of the house before you got in, he told me he needed to find a home for "The 'bleeping' cat I brought in yesterday."

"Oh, so you took in one of Mrs. Curtis's kittens? Which one? I tried to convince Granny we needed a companion for Den when I'm not around, but she shot me down. She told me 'Rockbells are dog people,' or something." Winry said, legs tucked to her chest comfortably. She, Alphonse, Mei, and Paninya were situated likewise in a circle on the floor of the younger Elric's bedroom, swapping idle gossip.

They didn't often gather in a group like this; it was a little awkward, especially with the jealous glances Mei occasionally shot towards Paninya when she didn't think she was looking.

Paninya's right knee was nudging Alphonse's, which Al himself didn't seem to be aware of, and neither Paninya, but Mei was resentful anyway.

"Yeah! I chose the little black and white one. Teacher—um, Miss Izumi, said it was just a runt but I was welcome to keep it, so I did until Brother found out."

"Oh, Edward's such a stick-in-the-mud. If you wanted to take care of it, that jerk should have let you! What'd you name it?" Paninya asked.

Winry noticed Mei sink deeper into a ball of moodiness, eyes trained on once more focused on touching knees.

"I named it Xiao-Mei!" Al stated matter-of-factly, and Mei gasped and shot up, squeaking.

"WHAT!"

Al offered her an unabashed smile. "It reminded me of you, it had cute eyes just like you.."

Mei practically melted into the ground with bliss. "Oh Alphonse-sama!" She rocketed off the carpet to latch herself to Al's neck. "W-woah, ahh Mei!" Al blushed scarlet, grinning like an idiot even as he tried to gently pry her off.

Winry giggled. "Get a room, you two!"

It did the trick, Mei shot off of Alphonse's lap and Al in turn glared at Winry.

"You didn't really name it Xiao-Mei, _did you_ Al? The sly blonde quipped, smirking.

The boy in question spluttered. "I said I did! And I did! Why-ask Brother he caught me talking to it!"

"Talking to it?" Winry snickered, "Why'd you say to it?"

"N-nothing—"

"He said a bunch of mushy crap, like, 'oh Xiao-Mei, you are such a pretty girl, yes you are yes you are~!' And, 'someday you'll grow big and sexy, into a princess of all catkind!'"

Al turned purple with embarrassment, having spun like the rest of the room's occupants to gaze in surprise at the short blonde in the doorway.

"Shut up Brother that's not true, I-I didn't say any of that!"

"No, I heard you say that too Al, though it was about some other cat—"

"YOU TOO WINRY?"

"HA! Thanks my favorite machine junkie! Have I ever told you the oily aroma of your body makes me just want to die?"

"WHY YOU-!"

"Wait! Wait in the good way I was totally joking! JOKING, PUT THE WRENCH DOWN!"

"Convince me with some _proper _compliments and I'll consider it."

"Uh, I love your-wait. I like the way you do your…arm panels-no. Wait uh…—"

"THAT'S IT!"

"Wait I swear I'm coming up with something!"

"You better come up with something good or I'll make this painful."

"You're…wearing a dress!"

"That's all you've got? That's stating the obvious Edward!"

"N-no! Stating the obvious would be like if I said you're an amazing mechanic!"

Winry dropped the wrench, dramatically gasping. "Really, do you _mean it_?"

"Idiot, it's a fact, if you want _a compliment_—"

"That was the most beautiful thing you've ever said to me! You've earned a hug big guy!"

Edward's lips twitched upwards, smug at the 'big' word, but when Winry gently pulled him into a soft hug his prepubescent mind went haywire. _Winry was hugging him, what was he supposed to do! _

The sweet scent of oil and girl washed over him and he had to restrain himself from deeply inhaling… the urge was startling and came out of nowhere and Ed didn't know if he could hold it back._ That comment was coming back to bite him in the butt! $&$# KARMA! _

"Wow, look at those two, they've been hugging a whole minute, think they'll notice they have a peanut gallery?"

"Brother's looking pretty out of it…I think that's a negative Paninya."

"What's that squirming in his pocket?"

"What pocke-oh! Brother, you have a heart after all!"

"…Okay I think we should tap them on the shoulder or something—"

Winry had been so carried away with delight that HE ACTUALLY NOTICED by _BAMF _she was, she hadn't taken notice of the whispering until something tickled her upper thigh. She instantly pushed the limp boy away from her, cheeks a mortified pink. "Did you just feel me up!?" She thundered.

Edward shrank from her wrath. "NO! It wasn't like that! I just have the stupid cat in my pocket since I couldn't find anyone willing to take it off me!"

Alphonse turned to his brother with his best puppy-dog eyes. "Does that mean we can keep her?"

"No." Ed spat sourly. "The skanky runt bit me like thirty-million times, there's no way we're keeping that thing."

Al blew out a frustrated breath.

"Don't worry Alphonse-sama! I'll keep her!" Mei cried suddenly and exuberantly, standing up.

"You sure Mei? Pets can be a hassle to take care of, I would know." Winry spoke kindly.

"NO! I think we'll get along just fine so it'll never be any trouble for me at all!"

"You'll really take her in?" Al asked hopefully.

"I will do anything that pleases you Alphonse-sama!"

Ed huffed, relieved. He dug in his pocket for a moment, then abruptly withdrew, wincing, a tiny black-and-white cat attached via razor-sharp fangs to his palm. "Here, keep the sucker."

"Woah, that thing hates you." Paninya remarked.

"It's perfect! Oh so adorable! I LOVE HER! Come here darling Xiao-Mei!" Mei pried the kitten off his hand and into hers, where it immediately started to lick.

The girl of Xingese descent giggled in delight.

Winry looked at the Edward's cuts while everyone was focused on the new pair, tutting at the surprising amount of blood.

"While these guys are preoccupied, wanna get a band-aid or something?" Winry smiled.

"Sure, anything to get away from that disgusting creature." Ed responded, very aware of her proximity and probing hands.

XXX

When they returned to the bedroom, they were surprised to see Alphonse sitting alone in the middle of the room, waiting for them.

"Mei left to show Xiao-Mei to all her brothers and sisters, and Paninya said she had to go home and help Dominic with something." Al explained, sensing their questions.

Winry pouted. "Aw I wanted to leave with Paninya!"

Ed huffed, offended. "What's wrong with hanging around Al and I?"

"Nothing Paninya just promised me we'd get to spy on Mr. Dominic's automail surgery tonight. Shoot I was really looking forward to it…" Winry slumped mournfully.

Ed frowned in disbelief. "Really, is it _always_ about automail with you?"

"Of course! When will you just suck it up and realize how awesome it is?"

Ed snorted. "I admit I don't have to think about it much, because I have healthy, perfectly-working limbs already. I guess it's a great invention though, it can rebuild lives after accidents rob them of their old ones…It says a lot about your personality that you're that into it."

Winry stared in wonderment at his admission. Slowly, a beaming smile replaced her frown, and without warning she lunged to grab hold of both brothers' arms, ignoring their confused yelps, and made a beeline towards the doorway.

"I want to go outside all the sudden! Enjoy the nice weather outside! C'mon guys!"

"We can walk by ourselves Winry!" Both boys shouted simultaneously.

She sighed, but wordlessly released them. They thundered down the steps together, making a sharp turn into the living room, where they stumbled to an uncomfortable halt.

Van Hohenheim, the gentle golden giant, stood in their path, a dark, haunting look to his topaz depths.

Something immediately didn't seem right about him, the way his muscles bunched tensely, the way his spectacles reflected an eerie light.

He cleared his throat softly.

"Might you give me a moment with theses two? There's something I need to speak with them about before I leave. My wife would enjoy it if you'd accompany her in the kitchen."

The tall man didn't look at her to communicate he meant her. Shrugging, Winry tried to affect a carefree manner as she slipped away to find her 'Auntie,' an uneasy feeling brewing in her gut.

She hadn't seen Mr. Elric look like that since her parents were murdered…

Shivering, Winry pinched her arm to shake herself out of it before her thoughts could lead her down a dark and dangerous remembrance.

But a brief memory flitted through her mind anyway, bringing the phantasmal musk of fresh corpse to her nostrils.

Later, Winry would look back on the brief lapse as an omen.

XXX

Hohenheim's first sentence to his sons, after they were alone, was no surprise.

"There's somewhere I need to be."

Edward muttered something dark under his breath, while Alphonse's head drooped in sadness.

"Forgive me, I know this is…sudden, but it's necessary and very urgent."

"What's so freaking Urgent about a science field trip?" Ed snarled, fists balled in anger. His golden eyes sparked with defiance.

"Trust me Edward, this warrants my attention. I need to leave immediately as consequence; usually I would be more cautious. But before I go, I need to ask you and your brother a question," he gently pulled his glasses off so his somber aureolin orbs could meet both matching sets unobstructed.

"Will you watch out for each other and you mother while I'm away?"

"It's funny you're the one asking _us_ that…" Edward lowly intoned.

"Edward do you promise?"

"When the heck have I ever not?"

"Alphonse? Do you promise me?"

"Yes father."

The man nodded, slipping the spectacles back on.

"Alright, you earned the right to know. By promising me something, I can give you something in return. Equivalent exchange. Hold out your hands."

Alphonse complied quietly, while Edward stubbornly crossed his arms.

Hohenheim reached into his shirt and drew out a large, ornate key on a long golden chain.

"This…is the key to the basement. Someday, when you're ready, I'll explain everything down there to you. It holds secrets pertaining to general mankind, among other things, such as to why and how the walls were built. For now, I'm merely letting you look at it. When I get back, I'll personally show you everything. Would you like to hold it, Alphonse?"

Al nodded.

The weight of the key surprised him; it was extremely light for something so gaudy and ornate.

"Let me see it." Ed quietly muttered, nudging him arm.

Al silently passed it to him.

"It's pretty weird, huh Brother?

"Yeah, strange." He grunted.

Their father hummed; both boys stopped peering at the key to glance up in consternation.

"It's time. Take care of each other, remember our promise. Hand me the key."

Ed tried to stubbornly hold unto it, but from one touch of his father's hand on his, he recoiled.

Hohenheim gazed at his son, in a way that couldn't have been interpreted any other way than tenderly. If Winry had been there to see, she would've noticed Ed's eyes glance away in pain, as spite evaporated away to give room for only confusion and hurt that his father would leave them yet again, without explanation. Edward didn't show it in the way he walked, talked, acted, or even ate in unaffected abandon; but deep inside, deep, deep down—this hurt his feelings, having to grow up without a father half the time.

Hohenheim knew; it shone from his yellow-tinted gaze, understanding pleading with his eldest to forgive him. When he didn't show any sign of relenting to his old man's soulful expression, Van exhaled in defeat and straightened, stretching briefly out to catch Al's accepting shoulder in silent farewell.

Then turned his back on them without another backwards glance, the lock setting with a 'click' as the front door swung shut.

Ed "tched," leaving Al in his wake as he spun to march tensely out of the room.

Little did they know, soon "daddy issues" would become the least of their worries.

XXX

**(The Day of the Fall, 5:00pm)**

Not that Winry hadn't enjoyed spending the whole outside, at first sticking around their old favorite spot at the canal, later progressing to playing hide-and-seek around the market stalls, but the day was quickly ending and Winry had some half-completed projects lying back home calling her name.

The sun was leaning towards the western horizon, casting late shadows across the cobblestones from awnings and stall boxes. Ed and Al were being particularly stingy with hiding spots at the moment, and it was beginning to aggravate her. Geez, did they have to pick their first _good ones_ right as she wanted to finish?

Winry ducked underneath the unattended fruit vendor's stand, ruffling the fabric over her head of fair, lemony strands. Nothing there except for a crate of rotting apples. Eew!

She tried the next stand, the vegetable vendor's stand, with equal luck.

Grunting with impatience, Winry strode over to Mr. Barry, the meat vendor across the plaza who was the Curtis's top competitor for customers. The middle aged-man looked down as she approached, slowly setting down a wickedly sharp butcher's knife. "What'dya want little lady? Pork chops or will it be something more _tender_?" He laughed, probably thinking he made a joke.

Winry barely managed not to shift away from discomfort, as the man always gave off such a vibe, and cautiously stepped up the counter, placing both hands at eye level as she came a little short.

"Have you seen two little boys with blonde hair hide anywhere around here?"

"As a matter of fact, doll, I—"

"—NOT SHORT!" An outraged cry interrupted Mr. Barry. Winry spun in triumph, and marched smartly over to the candy vendor's, hearing Alphonse's annoyed whisper answer him back,_ "Brother hush! Winry might hear you!" _

The mechanic snorted, and proceeded to creep in tiptoe towards the stall covering, gaze calm and even.

"_But she was cheating Al! She can't ask people if they've seen us! It's in the rules!" _

"_I didn't know that Brother! That's how I found you guys last time!"_

"_Gnng YOU CHEATED?!"_

"_Shhhhh! Winry will hear you!" _

With a yelp of "Ha!" Winry yanked the overhanging sheet out of the way. But there was nothing there!

"Huh?" Her head tilted in confusion, but then she heard uncontrollable sniggering from behind.

"What?!" Winry spun to meet the jovial expressions of Edward and Alphonse, peeking out from the top of an apparently empty vegetable crate.

"Gotcha!" Al beamed.

"Blind much? You passed right by us! Ha WE WIN!" Edward crowed in victory, khaki-clad legs hooking over the top of the crate to get out, with Alphonse mirroring his actions.

"You know, I actually won because I never said 'I give,' and you jumped out anyway. But it doesn't matter, it's getting late and it's time for me to go home." Winry said, flipping a chest-length lock of straw-blonde hair over her shoulder dispassionately.

"Aw, fine. Al and I will walk you home then…"

"No that's okay! I don't need your protection, it's just a walk a few blocks down."

Edward gave her his best, 'don't give me that bullcrap' look, which made tingles shoot down her spine that she couldn't explain.

"Don't try to play this off Win. Not after last time." His golden eyes met hers, and seemed to smolder quietly with anger. Not at her, she knew. At the bullies that had cornered her three weeks ago and pelted her with old bolts and screws, chanting all the while, "Machine geek! Machine geek!"

Lightly, Winry touched her arm which had bruised horribly after one of the boys had kicked her, which was now just a greenish patch among a sea of cream.

"Alright." She said quietly.

Nodding in unspoken acknowledgment, the three set off.

Perhaps because it was closer to fall now, the air cooled more as the trio wore on down the cobblestone, passing men and women going about their business or returning home from a long day at work. Edward, Winry, and Alphonse adeptly stayed out of the way of the 5:00 rush, walking along the outskirts of the rush and holding hands to avoid getting separated.

If they had looked up, they would have seen a magnificent sunset, a majestic blend of fiery oranges fading into mellow yellows and periwinkle-violet. Wisps of clouds were strewn across the dusky skies in breath-taking contortions of storm fronts and in columns of fluffy layers. Lightening flickered ominously within a dark group far to the East, adding a spark to the priceless beauty of the skies overhead.

Beneath, citizens enjoyed the stillness and perfection of a beautiful day coming to its close.

But it was all a little too peaceful.

Beneath the setting sky, amidst the throng of rush hour, Edward Elric glanced out of the corner of eye a little girl, still and solemn, stop in the middle of the rush to stare at the sunset. Her eyes are what drew his gaze; they didn't seem to be taking in the glorious landscape at all. Instead, they were widened in horror and unbelief.

She was three, or two; he couldn't really tell, two long brown braids fell down her back as the toddler gaped. She tugged on a man's hand by her side, pointing up towards whatever she was looking at.

"Dadda, look!"

"What is it Nina?"

"Dadda look! Look!"

Edward watched the man glance up.

"Dadda, it's a hand! A really, really, really big one!" The man, probably her father, didn't respond for a moment, he seemed stunned. Then, he choked, and exclaimed, "May God save us."

A woman bumped into his shoulder, and turned to apologize when she saw that he was otherwise occupied and turned to see what he was looking at.

A blood-curdling scream lit the air. Like a domino effect, people turned to the sky to see what the problem was, and once they did they froze, or screamed, in disbelief. Children around them began tugging on parents sleeves, asking, "Wassat Mommy? Wassat Daddy? Why is there a hand on the wall?" Slowly making everyone in the street Edward, Alphonse, and Winry were located on aware of it.

Winry pulled hard on Edward's hand, doing the same to Alphonse's.

"Ed, Al! Look!" She yelped breathlessly, wide cerulean eyes incredulous as they gazed upward, though it was unnecessary; they were already looking up at Wall Maria.

Around them, the thrall of noise faded as their world narrowed into one with only one scope of focus; a fleshless steaming hand gripping the top of Wall Maria's 50 meter battlements.

Edward was numb to everything else except the feel of Alphonse's clammy hand grasped in his right one, and Winry's on his chest.

Alphonse heard every noise around them, blending into a nightmarish cacophony of panic in his mind that he couldn't rid himself of.

Winry couldn't feel or hear anything around her; the sight of bare, steaming muscle be it thousands of meters away from her flashed her back to the sight of her parents, likewise steaming as body heat fled from their corpses.

Winry snapped out her horrid reverie as a shadow eclipsed the setting sun in the sky; blanketing Ed and Al beside her as well as the hundreds of people around her.

A skull reared its head over the wall, massive, webbed with muscle and ligaments and horrendously steaming like it was fresh out of the oven. Everything went quiet, everybody watched its ascent. It seemed to gaze vacantly at the inhabitants of Wall Maria, like a zombie without a spark of intelligence.

Its grotesqueries must have stirred some random man out of a horror-born stupor, for the only word Winry, Edward, and Alphonse heard in the stillness of the paralyzed multitude was,

"Titan."

Like it had heard its name from thousands of meters away, another hand clamped onto Wall Maria, bracing itself, then a grossly bloated muscular foot crashed through Wall Maria's tightly sealed gate and a vortex of wind blew building-size chunks of concrete into the people. They didn't have time to mourn the instant deaths of countless strangers however, as a chunk of concrete 4 meters wide came hurdling faster than they could think straight towards them.

Hearing Edward and Alphonse scream, Winry didn't hear her own horrified one as the chunk lodged itself firmly in the middle of the panicking throng, crushing the little girl and her father along with a stray dog and three other citizens. Their lives bled through from underneath the rubble in rivulets of crimson, though a spray of blood soaked her, Ed, and Al along with nearby survivors with their juices.

All three of them gasped, stumbling backwards blindly in sheer horror. Edward spun towards his brother, pointing back towards the way they'd come, coincidentally also the way the concrete had just blown up from.

"MOM!" He choked. "She's still in the house!"

Alphonse cried, tears leaking and smearing spots of blood off. "We've gotta save her Brother!"

They stumbled off, going against the grain of panicking civilians rushing past to escape towards Wall Rose. Winry, terrified, tugged them back.

"Edward, Alphonse! Titans are flooding in through the hole in the wall! You can't go back there you'll be in danger!"

Edward and Alphonse trudged onward despite her desperate hold.

"Mom…we have to go!" Edward shuddered.

"Mom, hold on we're coming!" Alphonse sobbed. Someone sharply brushed into her side and she lost her grip on their shoulders.

"NO! ED AL WE HAVE TO STAY TOGETHER! COME BACK!" She lunged desperately forwards, but it was too late, the two blondes had disappeared within the throng of refugees.

"I have to find Granny!" Winry cried, and then sharply took off in the opposite direction, the flood of people rushing in the same direction made it easier to get to the turn off sooner. But she hadn't predicted on getting carried away, and the shoves and elbowing didn't let her get off at her turn.

"NO! I HAVE TO GET OFF HERE HELP! SOMEONE LISTEN I HAVE TO GET OFF-!"

"MISS ROCKBELL, HOLD ON!" To her amazement, two brawny arms lifted her from the panic and deposited her on the sidelines, where her rescuer continued to shield her from further harassment.

Winry looked up in stunned disbelief. "Mr. Armstrong?" She said incredulously.

"MISS ROCKBELL! IT IS OF THE MOST UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WE MEET! BUT I AM GLAD I COULD HELP YOU WHEN YOU WERE IN DISTRESS!" The giant yelled over the commotion of the throng. "ARE YOU ALRIGHT, MISS ROCKBELL?"

"Yes! But I have to get to my Granny, she had to help me find my friends they're in danger!"

"HOLD ON THEN, WE MUST BRAVE THESE TULMUTUOUS CROWDS AND GET YOU TO SAFETY!" Without breaking a sweat, Mr. Armstrong tossed her over his shoulder and charged off towards her turn, Winry shouting directions in his ear as they went.

Finally, they arrived at the old yellow house, and Armstrong broke through the door without pause and hollered at the top of his lungs, "MRS. PINAKO ROCKBELL, I HAVE YOUR FINE YOUNG GRANDDAUGHTER, AREYOU PRESENT?!"

A miniscule old lady rushed into the living room. "Oh Winry, thank goodness-!"

"We don't have time Granny! Ed and Al rushed off to save their Mom! The wall broke down because a titan kicked it down and we have to get out before everyone dies and I'm scared, so scared Granny-!"

Pinako gasped, "My, my, I saw. But there isn't time to chase off after the boys, I have to get you out of here and to the docks! I bet they're already taking people to Wall Rose! There isn't time we have to go now!"

"NO! GRANNY I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE THEM!"

"Winry! You must have faith that those boys will make it out, they're hardy children! They'll be fine!"

"No! What if their Mom's hurt and she can't leave with them? What if the titans get to them before they can get help?"

"Child, there isn't time—"

"MRS AND MISS ROCKBELL! AS SURVEY CORPS MAJOR AND QUALIFIED SOLDIER, I VOLUNTEER MY SERVICES TO BE PUT TO USE TO SAVE THE BOYS OF WHICH YOU SPEAK!"

Winry's porcelain blue eyes shot upwards. "You will!?"

Alex Armstrong gave a military salute, eyes locking with Winry's grim ones. "I promise to do my best…YOUR DEVOTION TO YOUR CHILDHOOD FRIENDS MAKES ME WEEP TEARS OF JOY! GAAAH HAAA AAAAH!" He burst into proud tears.

Then he sniffed, gave Winry a brief crushing embrace, and steamrolled through their door, leaving it hopelessly in ruins. Winry didn't waste another moment, and leapt into her grandmother's arms. Pinako shifted, beginning to return the hug when she took in the fine spray of blood coating her granddaughter's clothing and hair.

Pinako sniffed. "You've seen Hell already, haven't you girl?" Winry choked on sudden tears, and lifted scared blue orbs to meet her Granny's stern look.

"Uh huh." Tears trickled down her cheeks, mixing with the blood.

"We're going to be just fine Winry. Just fine. Let's go."

Winry leaned back to wipe her eyes, sniffling, trying to be strong, for Granny and Edward and Alphonse.

And Auntie Trisha, if she was still alive.

"Let's go." She said, determined blue eyes peering down at her Granny.

XXX

**I Killed Nina! AH! I didn't mean to, it just came out! I was trying to make this as horrible as I could…I bet you're wondering how Alex Armstrong knows Winry and not Edward or Alphonse. Well Urey already knows Roy from work, why not Alex Armstrong? As a colleague of her father's, Winry would sometimes meet military people like that. Did you catch how I said he's part of the Survey Corps? Well you should have, I made him scream it :D **

**And does anyone know how to mark pairings in the story description? **

**Not sure how much of you have read up to this chapter, but if you are thank you:) Your reviews are what's keeping me writing! Tell me if I got anything wrong, and Dear "Not so Human," I brought in ONE titan! Hahaha sorry, next chapter will have Trisha get 'nom-nomed,' I promise! **

**Quick question though; Did I keep Armstrong in character? It's been awhile since I've seen the series, hope he talked right in this….**


	7. Chapter 7

**I love Edward and Alphonse! I love them as a duo, their dynamics together are so heartbreaking and loving and hilarious all at the same time, you just gotta love them! However, in this fic I can only hope I'm getting that across because I'm no Arakawa and I don't know their minds like she does. If anything seems off about Ed and Al, just tell me and I'll adjust it. I know Ed's a pottymouth, and there's certainly no end to the cussing in Attack on Titan, but I'm not going to adjust that particular aspect sorry. I can't type swear words, I don't even swear in real life. **

**Begins with Ed and Al's POV, at the end it's Winry's and Pinako's. Winry is awesome! I love her inner strength and hard-working ethic, so I can't help giving her a voice in this as well! :)**

**Warning: Trisha gets nom-nommed. **

**Disclaimer: I am merely a fangirl, by definition one should not take anything I write to mean I own it.**

Edward tripped over Mr. Henrik's corpse; glancing just long enough to identify his crushed spectacles and blood-splattered overalls before Alphonse lunged into him, propelling him onwards.

The day that began so beautifully was rapidly becoming the most horrific one in history.

There were other dead bodies, trampled into the cobblestone even though he and Alphonse had yet to see a single titan. But they weren't the deaths that caused bile to rise in his throat; it was the ones that had been ended within a blink of falling mortar and concrete. As he and Al ran blindly past; the pasty outstretched hands, legs, and heads seemed to beckon them to recognize the injustice of their demise.

The dead that were already strewn across Rezembool district's earthy roads bled into the streets until Edward felt like he was splashing through puddles of blood, making him dread what they'd see when they finally reached their house.

It took too long to reach the white two floor apartment; by the time Edward skidded around the corner of the final street with Alphonse in heavy pursuit, the shower of blood both of them had accidentally took had hardened into grimy specs in their hair and shirts.

Ahead of them, they unwittingly screeched to a halt at the sight of their humble apartment crushed into rubble. The timbers holding up the edge of their house had caved in, a sizable lump of exploded concrete having shattered through the insulation. The roof had caved in as well; only the doorway and the western side of their house remained standing.

Edward wished more than anything that his mother had been in the kitchen when the collapse had happened, as it was safely in the western edge. As it was, he could barely choke out a strangled gasp at the sight of his home in ruins.

An unavoidable emptiness crept into the cavern of his chest, but pushing past the hollowness of unspoken anguish, he forced himself to take in the entirety of his broken home despite the strong desire to shut his eyes tight and let the grieving beast inside him howl. Nothing, no signs of life there, except…

"I see Mom!" Alphonse choked out suddenly. Ed traced the path of Alphonse's shaking finger silently, until his frantic golden eyes landed on a struggling woman trapped underneath the wreckage.

"MOM!" Edward hollered, and flew into the mess of broken glass and hardwood without hesitation. Trisha Elric's eyes, which had previously been shut in pain, rolled open in stark relief as her children began to remove some of the debris.

"Edward, Alphonse! You're alive oh thank goodness, I was so terrified you got hurt! Oh my goodness you boys are okay…" She cried, interrupting their frantic excavation as her arms engulfed them into her warm chest.

"Mom we're fine! We made it!" Alphonse broke out between sobs. Edward's cheeks were damp with his own waterworks; tears of joy that his mother was alright, and that they'd be able to get out together. He clutched tightly to his mother's upper body; it was all he could reach through the wreckage piled around her.

"We're getting you out Mom, just hold on!" Ed yelled, squeezing his mom a little tighter to bring comfort and reassure both himself and because he didn't want to let go.

"Okay honey, but hurry! I'll help you as much as I can." Trisha gave her sons a peck on the forehead before reluctantly releasing them.

"We gotta lift that beam off her first, help me out Al." Edward began work on one of the timbers holding their mother captive, back straining as he tried to lift the bottom. "'Kay Brother! I'll help!" Alphonse joined him.

The brothers tried hoisting the stubborn beam for five minutes, panting and breaking in tandem, but their efforts had no effect on the stubborn, half-ton beam.

"I-It's too heavy!" Al panted, eyes widening in distress.

"No! We just gotta put our backs into more! C'mon!" Edward barked, gritting his teeth as he lunged once more at the wood.

"Brother I don't think we can do this without help!"

"No, we can do this!"

"Boys." Their mother's voice pulled them back to the present, a grave, urgent tone to her trembling voice. They gave all their attention to her.

"You have to run, now. Go."

"What? Mom, why?!" Ed breathed.

"RUN! GO NOW YOU NEED TO LEAVE ME!"

"Mom?" Al squeaked.

"Don't speak, just turn around and run!"

Too late, Edward noticed something that hadn't been there a moment ago.

Footsteps.

Ed twisted to peek around the corner of the desiccated wall to peer at the second titan he'd ever seen in his life, over 40 yards away from them and softly steaming in the evening light as it took shuddering steps forward.

This titan was easily one of the toughest to take down; its shaggy, matted hair-covered head towered over the house it was currently passing, and some part of his mind that wasn't terrified took note that that meant it must be over 14 meters, perhaps 15. Its eyes were bigger than dinner plates, and a murky vague brown that chilled him to the bone. Its body was clearly emaciated, and the stomach looked bloated as if it were starving, though the fresh blood splattered across its chin and chest suggested hunger was no longer a problem. Across the male-humanoid's face was stretched a grin so impossibly wide it was grotesque, filled in with more teeth than a real human would have.

The image of the grotesquely smiling titan burned itself into his mind in the space of a second.

Edward believed in that instant, he had never felt more torn in his life.

Clearly, somebody would die, but was he willing to trade his life, everything he had, to save his family? Unbidden, the promise he had made with his old man floated to the forefront of his memory.

"_Will you watch out for each other and you mother while I'm away?" _

Edward gritted his teeth, sniffing back angry tears.

"_It's funny you're the one asking us that…" _

"_Edward do you promise?"_

"_When the heck have I ever not?"_

When the heck had he ever not? It was his answer before, and it was the only one that made any sense to him now.

When the heck have I not?

How could I not?

_I'd give anything for them. _

He'd stay and dig his mother out before the titan came or he'd die trying. Breathing in sharply, Edward stomped back to his frantically gesturing mother and put his back into lifting the debris off her shoulders, now more determined than ever.

"Alphonse! Give me a hand!"

Alphonse looked back at him, at their mother, and finally towards the looming behemoth in the distance.

"Okay, I'll give my best!"

Together, both brothers heaved against the beam, grunting with the strain.

"NO!" Their mother's anguished cry caught them off guard.

"Boys, I will be fine, I'll be alright! Just go, Go!"

"But Mom I'm not leaving you to that titan—"

"HOOOOOO THERE, ELRIC BROTHERS! CHILDHOOD FRIENDS OF MISS ROCKBELL, I HAVE COME TO ESCORT YOU TO SAFETY!" Major Armstrong, 6"6 and sparkling with masculinity and physique, landed amidst the rubble and debris to declare while flexing impressively. Ed and Al sighed with genuine relief to see the odd man for once, two pairs of miniature suns relaxing in hope.

"What can I assist you two with—BY MY GENEOLOGY A TITAN!" The enormous man gaped at the approaching behemoth walking up the avenue towards them.

"Help us!" Ed barked, eyes desperate. "Our mom's trapped beneath the rubble, she can't get out!"

"Sir, help us, please!" Al pleaded.

But Armstrong gazed only at the titan. He cleared his throat, towering blue eyes solemn and vacant. "Elric brothers…it is my duty to protect the public and citizens of Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina. I swore an oath to uphold these promises. And now, I can live up to that oath." He rumbled quietly.

"I will kill that titan, so that you may rescue your mother." The 3D maneuver gear the huge man had strapped in rigs all over his rippling muscles clicked to attention, one massive hand on the gas release and the other on the rig.

He stepped out into the middle of the street to face the titan.

"Goodbye, Elrics, if I meet you again—"He stuttered to a halt. Now 10 yards away, the titan seemed larger than ever, and the stink of decay and steamy flesh drifted around them.

Like a swift kick had been delivered to Major Armstrong's gut, he lurched backwards as his face warped into the face of a terrified man about to die. "I have never…faced a foe such as this on such a terrain…" He whispered so lowly, Edward had to fight to catch it.

"Edward, Alphonse, I love you…" His mother breathed. Ed and Al looked in panic to their mother, just before the sight of her face vanished behind a fold of green canvas fabric, the _whoosh_ of air as he and his brother were swept over rock-hard shoulders blowing out the sound of the titan's final stretch of footsteps.

"I'll always be with you!" Trisha Elric cried somewhere beyond Armstrong's broad shoulders.

"MOM! NO! Traitor! COWARD! TURN BACK RIGHT _NOW YOU SON OF A-!" _Edward howled, kicking the man as hard as he could.

"MOOOM NO COME WITH US!" Alphonse wailed, struggling in the Major's viper-like grip. Edward, held against the side, twisted until he could peer with wide eyes over the edge of Armstrong's coat sleeve.

Their mother had broken down, body wracked with sobs as her emerald eyes sought out her fleeing sons. The smiling titan had reached the ruins of their old house, and bent nimbly down to pluck the beams off Trisha Elric's back like a child would pick up popsicle sticks. Its vacant eyes gazed hungrily at his mother as it fisted her into the air, bringing up to its mouth.

From his rapidly retreating viewpoint, Edward watched when the smiling titan broke his mother's neck with a snap and tossed the rest of her up to suck on greedily. Blood spilt in a river down the titan's horrendous grin, and with a final crack it locked its jaw to tear off her legs, lilac dress shredded into confetti. Blood exploded from her form like juice from a popped grape.

Edward was so horrified he was mute. No ache from a broken leg, or scraped knee or busted eardrum could compare to the pain he felt at that moment. Nothing.

There was nothing.

Armstrong had sprinted down 7 blocks before Edward could feel an emotion other than pain. Anger.

"PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN PUT ME DOWN!" He screamed, kicking the traitor in a lucky spot—the tendon on the underside of the knee. Armstrong stumbled, panting, and Edward took his chance and rolled out of his grasp to hit the cold cobblestone below.

"You're a coward, how could you leave my mother? YOU COULDN'T KILL ONE TITAN, ONE TITAN ALL BY ITSELF!" YOU'RE WEAK, YOU #%$^ TRAITOR!" He raged, completely past rational thoughts and actions. He shot another kick at the man's leg, but Armstrong caught it in one mighty fist. Alphonse weakly started struggling once more, to no avail.

"You are correct, little Elric brother. I am a disgrace to the Armstrong line, I have failed in my duty. Someday, though, I will renege this fateful day and bring back my fallen honor. I will do whatever's in my means to make certain you will survive to see that day, Mr. Elric. You have my word." He spoke gravely.

"Will you bring back our mother, Major Armstrong?" Alphonse intoned lowly, a hard edge to his words.

Armstrong flinched, and snatched Edward back to clutch against his side. "I will do whatever's in my means to make up for the wrongs I have committed this day, someday, I hope you may even call me friend."

Alphonse was silent for a long moment, as Edward stopped struggling to hear his reply as Armstrong began to break back into a long jog.

"I hope I will too." He finally said.

XXX

The trio barely made it to the docks in time to make it on the last barge. By "make it," Armstrong had to barge his way through a thick, anxious throng of refugees, apologizing as he went, and toss both brothers unceremoniously onto the overflowing barge just as it left the station. "Farewell, Elric brothers. I will watch out for your best wishes from this time forth, if you have any business with the Survey Corps in the future, give me a call. I will always assist as best I can." He stated seriously, before brightening marginally. "Do well in Wall Rose! Farewell!" As the two broken brothers drifted down the canal, Armstrong muttered so they wouldn't hear, "Forgive me," and turned away to begin managing the frantic crowds.

XXX

Winry and her Granny reached the docks long before it was a desperate struggle to even make it that far. The canal, wider than the one she and the Elric brothers played along, spanned at least half a mile from one side to the other, and was at least that deep. Winry was on the far right side; where the docks ran out a little ways on wooden stilts to meet the boats.

Hundreds of people were already loaded onto two of the main boats when she got there; the elderly, sick, or pregnant women with children were among the first to secure places, and so with one glance of the Garrison officers at her and Pinako, they were ushered onto the newly docked third barge.

In her fists she held all the possessions she'd had the time to collect; a doll, her mother's bandana, a wrench, some meager food. Besides that, she literally only had the clothes on her back.

It was all so surreal! Her entire world turned upside down in one second, the time it took for the great gate of Wall Maria to come crashing down. What on earth was she supposed to do when they reached Wall Rose? Panhandle? All their tools, equipment, licenses were left behind, never to be retrieved!

Passengers, healthy men and women, were starting to arrive now, which meant the Garrison had found all the sick, elderly, or pregnant they could find and were now filling in the gaps with normal citizens. Soon the boat she was on would depart, but there was still no sign of Ed or Al!

Winry dipped her head under the railing of the barge, ignoring the _'tutting'_ of her grandmother to keep her head inside. Cupping her eyes like binoculars, Winry looked for any sign of golden hair or flash of emerald eyes and wavy chestnut hair. Auntie Trisha would be easier to spot, as she was taller.

"Sorry m'am! We're overflowing we can't fit you, join the next boat!"

"I can't! Please, my daughter's hurt, she needs attention as soon as possible, I need to get on here!"

"I'm sorry M'am but I have to ask you to step out of line."

Winry's eyes widened. No! They weren't accepting more passengers? They were leaving already? But their boat wasn't full yet—

A wave of fresh screaming sounded from the outskirts of the mob.

"Titan approaching!"

"There's a dozen of them!"

"Save yourselves!" Men and women screamed in despair, the mob becoming a mad mass of swarming insects desperate to keep from getting squished.

Winry's heart gave a jump, and she latched herself to the railing to get a glimpse of the titans. Above the distant stucco rooftops, she could just make out a group of lurching mops of hair, a cloud of steam trailing in their wake. About three titans she could see, which meant they were at least 14 meters tall, but if the people in the streets said they could see dozens…

That'd mean shorter titans could appear around the avenue at any minute! She felt sick to her stomach, but her eyes couldn't leave the sight of hundreds of people launching themselves into the water to escape getting devoured.

With a lurch, Winry stumbled back into her grandmother when the boat disembarked suddenly. Citizens watched their last hope drift away and apparently couldn't stand it, trying to jump onto it as it passed the sidelines. Most of them fell into the water below, crushing themselves under the boat's wake.

"Ah! Grab on!" Winry shouted, arm outstretched when a man leapt as far as he could to make it, just barely grazing the lip of the railing. Winry didn't have time to think, she just reacted, shooting her stick-thin arm out to grasp the collar of the man's shirt. The man choked with surprise when he glanced up to meet her eyes, but Winry couldn't see through the tears of pain as the man's weight threatened to snap her arm in half.

To her relief, other passengers rushed to her aid to lift the heavy man over the railing, dumping him to the floor of the deck. He opened his eyes, sucking a deep breath into his lungs, and turned to meet Winry's worried blue eyes.

His eyes were a brilliant scarlet, hair white like starlight and skin tanned a dark brown. Deep scars criss-crossed his forehead to his eyelids, which wrinkled as the man's brow furrowed in concentration.

"Thank…you." The scarred man stated. Winry startled, a memory from two-years ago stirring in recognition, but she merely smiled, trying not to let her confusion show.

"Glad you're okay. Don't jump off the piers again, alright?"

An emotion she couldn't read flashed across his eyes, though he acknowledged her quip with a bare nod before he stood up.

"Winry!" Pinako grasped her arm. "I see Major Armstrong brought the boys back after all!"

Winry forgot about the man with the red eyes.

Keeping pace with the barge as it left was Survey Corps Major Armstrong, toting two blondes over both shoulders and staring at their barge with calculating eyes.

"How is he going to get them on?!" Winry cried, rubbing her sore arm with a wince, though her blue eyes didn't leave the Major.

Her question was answered as the Major yelled something to the boys, before he curled the arm holding Alphonse like he was about to throw a football, and then chucked the boy, yelping, onto the deck on the boat. He hit the deck with a groan, though Alphonse didn't move to get up right away, choosing to lay mutely on his side, exhausted. Edward landed on top of him a moment later, grunting as he fumbled to roll off his brother.

Winry took off for them as soon as Alphonse hit the deck, pushing passenger's legs aside to reach them. She couldn't speak; it felt like there was a lump clogging her airway. All she could do was collapse onto her knees by their sides, gently taking both brothers' hands.

"I-I'm so sorry…" Winry whispered brokenly. Edward rolled over to meet her gaze.

"Al. See to Al." He deadpanned grimly. He squeezed her hand briefly in his before gritting his teeth, like he was about to say something else but forced himself to hold it in.

Winry gently messaged Alphonse's pale, clammy hand, leaning in to listen to him when his lips moved, mumbling something. "What?" She concernedly asked him.

"…Mom…" He murmured, brokenly. His golden-brown eyes looked at without seeing her, like his thoughts were a million miles away. Winry reached to lay a hand to his forehead. No fever, but his forehead was cold and sweaty with flecks of blood from earlier still splattered across his face.

"Winry…Mom is…she's dead. Titan." Alphonse finally spoke.

XXX

Pinako hobbled up to the scene of her granddaughter and adoptive grandsons holding onto each other for dear life. Edward gripped Winry so tight it looked painful, his stubby nails digging into her back in a vice-grip, though Winry returned it with just as much fervor. Pinako could barely see Alphonse's blonde bangs through the tangle of arms and legs, though he appeared to be sandwiched halfway between Winry and Edward, tucked securely in the heart of their embrace.

Edward whispered something to Winry and Alphonse, which momentarily made her granddaughter stiffen. Then she moaned, slumping against the pair.

The shadow of Wall Rose loomed over their boat as they drifted into the tunnel.

Things would never be the same.

XXX

**Well, Scar made it out alive that buttface. Jk, he's an interesting character too I grant, he's just had a rough life and has made some very impulsive decisions. Hope I'm not boring anyone with side details, I'm trying to describe the scenes and add some reality to them so readers feel more a part of the story. **

**Haha, I get reviews about what characters I've decided to assign roles to. To be clear, I'm following FMAB's list of characters that die and characters that live, don't worry yourselves over their parallel roles in Attack on Titan. Hehehee also, there is no female titan! A certain spiky-haired homunculus will portray that role quite well in later chapters, as a GUY. He's the only one I can think of to mold into that role, and so there will be a lot of changes as well.**

**For those that watch Attack on Titan, I apologize that I can't remember quite what Hannes told Eren and Mikasa as they ran away from the titan that ate their mother. So I loosely based what Armstrong said around it…very loosely. **

**Besides that, all I can say is I'm looking forward to introducing potato boy.**

**Comments anyone? **


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you everyone for reviewing! I took notice of the constructive criticism and I'd like to thank you all for it because no one's flamed about anything to me and I really love that you're so kind and courteous when you point things out to me:) So thank you!**

**Just so you know….**

**I highly recommend looking at something after you finish reading this though. There's artwork rendering what Edward and Alphonse will look like later on in the story on Girlinthewind's deviantart profile titled "Different World." Yeah, obviously there are some hints dropped in it. I drew it in a fit of inspiration/boredom/writer's block when nothing was getting done in this chapter for some reason. :) **

**Potato boy makes his stunning debut in this chapter, along with a couple other characters we all know and tolerate/love/hate. I'd like to make it known that though I only listed three pairings in the description, I support ALL canon pairings and they'll all have splashes of introduction sooner or later. **

**Disclaimer: FMAB and AoT don't belong to me**

"_Don't move, I could inject you in the wrong spot and then it'd be lethal. The point of this shot is to suppress your memories, so you won't trouble yourself with learning all you can about the process until much later. Do you understand me?"_

"_What?! You told me everything! And now you want me to just forget?!"_

"_It's for your benefit."_

"_NO! You're crazy! This is completely insane; I can't believe you're making me do this!"_

"_Hold out your arm."_

"_There's nothing you can do to make me listen to you."_

"_Please, don't make this more difficult than it needs to be."_

"_Why? I'm completely justified old man! You just wrote off my doom like it was no big deal!"_

"_It's not like that! Or it was never supposed to be like that…"_

"_Whatever. Does Alphonse know what I am?"_

"_Yes, and that he is the same."_

"W-what?!"

"_I already administered the serum to him, he's resting now."_

"_Why tell me this now?!"_

"_Because I've realized I might not get the chance to, and I needed to tell you everything before it was too late. Please, trust me Edward. I'm trying my best to keep you boys out of danger!"_

"_You never loved us! Don't lie to my face!"_

_*Sigh* _

"_Hold still."_

"_Hey! Stop! LISTEN TO ME! I don't want to forget everything!"_

"_When you need to remember, you will. I'm sorry Edward. Forgive me…"_

"GNNGH!" Edward's gold-tinted eyes shot open. He breathed out slowly when he realized it was only a nightmare, a vivid one. Trembling, he let himself fall back into the sheets for a moment to get his bearings, orienting himself by taking in the messy surroundings of his dormitory.

"Dumb dreams…" he yawned, stretching his arms above his flaxen hair, sighing contently when he heard a satisfying 'pop'. Admittedly, it hadn't been the best way he could start the morning, but it sure beat a couple of the worst ones. Like the one a little over a year ago, where he had woken up with Alphonse huddled next to him, blood-stained, on the floor of an alleyway in the slums of Wall Rose. Refugees in the aftermath of the biggest tragedy in over 100 years.

They'd had to rely on Pinako's quick thinking and generosity to survive months on the streets, where he and Al lived relatively comfortably as the automail business boomed and they'd all had generous income to make it through each sluggish day.

It was ironic that the very tragedy that got them into this miserable predicament ended up supplying them with livelihoods in the aftermath. Dozens of survivors had sawed off trapped limbs to get out of the wreckage in time, or hadn't and had fallen partially prey to titans. If it hadn't been for all the customers, he and Al probably would've starved in the food shortage the onrush of refugees brought to Wall Rose. Of course, with all the customers the catastrophe brought, he and Al had been put to work to keep up with all the orders. Granny Pinako was generous but that didn't mean she tolerated free-loaders. They'd both worked for the Curtises for nearly a year; running errands as meat-boys to pay off the rent for the apartment Granny had helped them buy.

Edward hadn't complained at the heavy workload Mrs. Curtis dumped on them, partially because she'd taught them basic self-defense, a topic Edward immersed himself in wholeheartedly alongside Alphonse. The training brought them closer to the goal he and his brother had dedicated themselves to since that fateful day.

It'd also prepared them for the military academy they were enrolled in currently, the one he and Al had been dreaming about ever since they first became interested in traveling outside the walls, as part of the Survey Corps.

They hadn't expected Winry to recruit alongside them, but she had been acting differently ever since the walls fell. It wasn't that he wasn't happy that he could see Winry more often; it just made him nervous. A dark part of him had hoped she'd stay far away from the both of them once they'd joined the military; the joy of keeping her close wasn't worth the risk of hurting her if something happened to him or Al.

And now, he couldn't control what could happen to her.

Sliding off the bed, he yawned once more and errantly ran his fingers through tangled golden bangs. Looking up at the cracks of sunlight filtering through the blinds, the 12-year old boy stood to begin his usual morning routine.

"Gah! Freaking machinery…" He tripped over a tangle of military-issued harnesses, cursing as a toe caught on one of the straps, almost making him face-plant.

Once he'd pulled on his cadet uniform, tight white pants emphasizing his butt and firm calves and an old black tank top of his loosely hung across his torso, Edward turned his attention to buckling the seemingly endless clasps on the training harness of his new gear.

After a couple of minutes, he gave up. He looked like a patchwork of leather straps; he could only hope Al paid any attention in the briefing so he could fix them during breakfast. What time was it…7 already? He could get breakfast now! Yes!

He jumped towards the door, passing the cadet jacket he'd tossed into the corner last night. As an afterthought, Edward reluctantly plucked up the crumpled brown cadet jacket, wrinkling his nose in distaste but pulling it on all the same. The jackets were the only part he really hated about the uniform.

Red would have been a better choice.

There. Ready for duty, or drills, whatever the heck the crazy military academy had planned for today.

The door clicked open as Edward stepped into the hallway, slamming it behind him carelessly as he walked down the corridors towards the mess hall. As he walked, he thought he could hear somebody arguing, loudly, with someone else. One of the voices seemed particularly familiar to him, which heightened his interest when he placed it as Winry's.

Turning the corner, he was greeted with the sight of the fiery blonde punching a spiky-haired guy in the face.

"Jerk!" Winry shouted, blonde ponytail swishing as her fist landed squarely in the boy's jaw. The guy barely had a moment to let out a curse before Winry had rounded on him again, slapping his chest as she pushed herself out of his grasp. Stumbling backwards, Winry spun to run away when her pissed blue eyes met with his stunned aureolin ones. She squeaked his name in surprise.

"Hey to you too," Edward said, warily eyeing the scowling boy in the corner as he strode to stand slightly between them , lightly touching Winry's back protectively. "Whoever the heck you are, what did you do to Winry to make her want to cream you?" Ed asked coldly.

The boy sneered, shoving off the wall with a backwards wave of dismissal. "Like you'd wanna know, pipsqueak." The back of Edward's neck bristled in anger, his foot stomping down in a lurch to attack the other boy before Winry gently pulled him back.

"He's not worth it Ed. He didn't do anything, so there's nothing to get him back for." Ed snorted, eyes not leaving the mystery boy's retreating back. "He obviously did _something,_ you don't go braining people out of the blue!"

Winry huffed and stomped her foot. "He's just some idiot who let his mouth run away with him a moment ago, alright? Really, Ed, don't worry about it. I'm over it already, okay? Let's go get some breakfast."

Ed shook his head slowly, fixing her with and stubborn look. "Tell me what he said and we'll go."

Winry seemed like she was considering it, eyelids lowering partially in contemplation. Then she sighed, the puff of air she released ruffling his bangs. "Naw, maybe later when you've eaten and are in a better mood. You can get pretty grumpy sometimes, you know?"

They started walking, Edward squawking his protests as they marched down the hallway together.

"At least tell me his name." Ed grumbled, setting his jaw in the manner that meant he wouldn't back down until he got his way. Winry's breath trickled through her bangs as she sighed.

"Envy."

He stopped and groaned lowly in understanding. "Don't tell me that idiot's one of those 'Ouroboros' lackies. They're all insane!" He walked forward more, before stiffening and spinning to point angrily at her face.

"Hold on! Now I have to know what that guy said to you! He's bad news, Win, why's he mixed up with you?!"

"Do you really want to know that badly?" Winry asked, cocking her hip to the side.

"Yes, I do!"

She groaned. "Fine. I think he was trying to recruit me or something."

Ed blinked, face showing his surprise. "What on earth would he want to recruit you for? You do awful in combat training on purpose! You're not the type those wackjobs would usually seek out, it doesn't make sense."

" Hey, I only do bad because combat training is pointless, titans are too big to take on with just your fists. And it's not my fighting skills he wanted me for."

Edward growled, golden eyes sharp razor blades. "Please, enlighten me on WHAT he wants you for."

"My mechanical genius, obviously. And because he thinks I have a knack for stratagem too, among _other_ things…" Her mouth turned downwards in disgust.

"Other things?" Ed ground out.

"Things that I'm never going to mention in the same sentence with that creep. Don't worry, my only love is automail." Winry winked.

His groan of affectionate frustration made her laugh.

"Oh! Geez I barely noticed, otherwise I would have fixed this a _long_ time ago. Hold still!" Edward stood uncomfortably still as Winry's skilled hands fixed his butchery of straps. She straightened after a moment, an errant hand lingering on the clasp in the center of his chest.

"This," she gestured with her free hand to the clasp she held, "is broken. You bent it trying to get it on wrong, probably. If you want to train today, you're going to have to let me fiddle with it during breakfast, if that's alright?"

Edward's brow furrowed in contemplation. "We'll be late for 3D maneuver practice if I let you 'fiddle' a little."

Winry scoffed, flipping her bangs off her face as she spun to go. "Oh don't worry about being late for that. I wouldn't miss going for the world!"

XXX

"Line three, about face!"

"YES SIR!"

"You! With the shiny blonde hair!" A girl two rows to Edward's left snapped a solute.

"Yes Sir!"

"State your name and district!"

"Uh, Catherine Armstrong, from Central Wall Rose Sir!"

"LOUDER WENCH I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" The greasy mustache on the instructor's lip moved as the man spat an order.

"CATHERINE ARMSTRONG FROM CENTRAL, SIR!"

"hmph, still pathetic…" Beady black eyes shifted hungrily around for its next target, passing him, Alphonse, and Winry to land greedily on a raven-haired girl a row away. "Ah! You there, bun head!"

"Sir!"

"State your name and district!"

"Lan Fan from the eastern district of Wall Sina!"

"Ooh, Wall Sina? You must be some prissy rich girl am I right?!"

"No sir."

"No?! NO?! _Wench_ do you know the difference between your opinion and this shindig of a job I have!?"

"No Sir?" Sneering, the sallow-skinned man leaned in until Lan-Fan flinched from the proximity.

"I _asked _for the job." Drill sergeant Yoki Youswell paced down the line until a piercing 'crunch' of someone biting into a food item made him stop. By the time his rapid footfalls led him face to face with a tall, spindly Asian boy munching on something, sergeant Yoki's balding crown was beet red with fury.

"_What,"_ he spat, "Is that _thing_ you're eating."

"Pothato." The boy smirked around his mouthful.

Cadets around him stiffened. A whine like an antagonized cat wheedled from the instructor's narrow throat, while the purple in his forehead migrated to his cheeks and neck and veins popped in aggravation.

"Pppphffft…" Yoki struggled to speak, "…Why?!"

"Omph, youh 'don know why huhmans—" he swallowed, "Eat potatoes?"

"FFFUUUUUU-AAAGH!" Yoki's flung his hands in the air, "Boy! Name and district _now_!"

"Ling Yao, want some potato?"

"No! District NOW!"

"Same as Lan-Fan's Sir!"

"_Tell me yourself!"_

"Eastern Industrial district in Wall Sina!"

Yoki strode off, fuming. A couple of feet away, he signaled another adult over, where the two began a brief, explosive conversation with lots of gesturing.

Throughout the rest of roll call, Yoki kept steadily out of their sector, which was fine with Edward because the man's whiny voice grated on his ears.

Once the instructor was safely out of hearing distance, Winry leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"I think he skipped us on purpose. Us and other kids from Wall Maria weren't questioned like the others, do you think that means there's something different about us?"

He shrugged, glancing over to check Alphonse's curious gaze. "I don't know, maybe. I think he's scared of us because we've actually seen titans, unlike half the newbies here."

Winry nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe we look different, since we have…"

Edward didn't voice that he'd known that a long time ago.

XXX 

_Man, look at potato boy go_.

Alphonse leaned idly against the fence outside their dormitories. He watched Ling Yao stagger along the mile marker for the fourth time, quietly awe-struck that he hadn't collapsed yet.

"Why you watch the pony-tail man?" An extremely chubby kid asked him out of nowhere. Alphonse jumped in surprise, something instantly making him uneasy. The kid looked ageless, like he couldn't tell if he was eleven like him or eighteen just by looking at him, and he had an ugly bulbous nose in the center of an abnormally small, round face. Two black-button eyes stared at him, voice sounding bizarrely child-like.

"U-um, what?"

"Gluttony said, why do you watch the pony-tail man? That's Gluttony's assignment."

Alphonse shifted uncomfortably. "Um, sorry I was just passing by, and I wondered who was still out jogging. Um, did you say assignment?"

The boy tilted his head. "Yes, Lust told Gluttony to watch pony-tail man. And Gluttony has to do job if he wants dinner!"

Al smiled nervously. "That's, um great. You don't mean Instructor Lust, do you?"

"Yes! Mistress Lust!"

"She told you to…watch Ling?"

"No! Lust told Gluttony: 'Watch the yellow-haired pony-tail man, or no snack!' But Gluttony didn't find any yellow pony-tail man, so Gluttony just watch black-haired pony-tail man."

Al swallowed, stomach tying itself in disturbing knots. "Oh. I'm sorry but it's time for me to go, bye!"

Without a second glance, Al turned and forced himself to walk away casually, trying to ignore the feeling of two beady eyes boring holes in his back. Once he made it around the bend of the first dormitory cluster, his frightened legs broke into a dash towards his brother's room.

His brother needed a hair-cut, and soon.

**Introducing: The Homunculi! Hehee something's definitely different about them in this story…**

**Chapter 9 soon to come! **


	9. Chapter 9

***Gasps* Hanji from Attack on Titan is apparently voiced by the same person that voices Edward Elric in the original Japanese version! **

**I don't know how to feel about this, suddenly all I want is to rewatch Hanji's scenes and imagine Edward creepily obsessing over titans…it'd put the "Edward Elric is hot under all circumstances" situation to the test ;D **

**Updates are a little slow because I've been re-acquainting myself with some of my favorite fan-fics. If you ever want a great EdWin fic to read, I recommend "Angel" by Yellow Mask, or really any fic by her/him, the author is amazing!**

**Warning: re-acquainting myself as I have been with some of my favorite fluff fics, my EdWin muse has been restored and I wrote some quality fluff in this ;) **

**If you don't like my ship, go awaaay they're meant to be together forever! OTP 4ever! *launches canon at crack ships* (i.e EdxAl? Reeeally guys, incest is not okay.) **

**All my friends say I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Attack on Titan. Which I totally handle with complete maturity whenever they say so btw. It's not like I clap my hands and slap the ground and pretend I shoot stone fists at them, and it's like I bite my hand and draw blood before roaring like a 15-meter titan. Nope. **

**(Date, unkown. Place: Amestris military Academy mess hall)**

A little fatigued from her late night spent secretly working on prosthetics; Miss Rockbell excused herself from the mess hall to walk back to her dormitory alone. Laughter from a rowdy group of teenage boys reached her ears when she passed by the last stretch of tables, a couple of them bent over in silent hysterics. She recognized one of the boys from his spiky black hair and violet eyes, currently crunched into slits as tears of mirth made their way down his face and was guffawing as he teetered back and forth on the bench.

Envy.

Face reddening with embarrassment she immediately quickened her pace so that within five seconds she had cleared the doorway. Whatever the boy was laughing at, it sure wasn't anything nice and appropriate if what he'd implied earlier said_ anything_ about his character. Unbidden, memories from earlier that day flashed through her mind.

"_You're sure pet? I'd like nothing better than to have you over later…"_

"_Shut. Up."_

"_Aaw, pet, you're even sexier when you're shy!"_

"_Leave me alone!"_

"_Make me!"_

"_Fine you asked for this, JERK!" _

With her back to the riotous laughter of four boys, she didn't notice it when Envy stopped laughing and peeled himself away from the group. Once she had rounded the doorway, the smirking boy followed the trail of lilac-scented shampoo in the air to the source marching brusquely down the hallway.

Winry had already marched past the front office and the command school's entrance by the time she heard quiet snickering behind her. Whirling around, all the blood drained from her face when she realized she'd been followed. After a moment of panicked deliberation, Winry decided to play it cool, as if she'd known all along he'd been stalking her. Meeting his poisonously pleased violet eyes and cocky grin full of dagger-like teeth, she straightened her spine and calmly set a hand to her hip, cocking it in a "devil may care" manner.

"What are you doing?" She tried to make it sound like a demand and not a question, but from her wavering voice she wasn't sure she'd achieved that effect.

Envy in response let out a grunt of humor and stalked closer until he was discomfortingly close to popping her personal bubble. Snapping his hand up, he angled her chin up until they were eye-to-eye, violet poring into cerulean. His thumb lightly traced the curve of her chin as he spoke.

"I saw my _pet_ had left her dinner untouched and I was worried. Something _worrying _you Rockbell?"

Winry tried to disentangle her jaw from Envy's wiry fingers but to no avail. His hand was like a steel trap. Frustrated, she grunted and tried to kick his shin.

Envy jumped back before her foot could make impact, sneering wickedly at her as he was forced to release her.

"Oh, Rockbell likes to play dirty! That's nice, but save it for the bedroom sweetheart."

"Oh for heaven's sake, just leave me the heck alone creep!"

"Nuh-uh, I like this dance," he rushed forward to grab both wrists as if to say 'game over', pools of amethyst leering at her triumphantly, "may I have another?" He laughed.

"No! I already told you my decision and it's _not_ going to change, sorry bud. Better luck next time."

"Even for this offer?" His violet eyes turned taunting as his hands slithered to her waist. Shrieking, Winry launched herself back as far as she could; this time, Envy let her. Bent over with laughter once again, he peered up at her through cracks in his vision.

"You're still a child. It's hilarious!" He crowed. Winry huffed.

"Really? Because I don't see how this is a joke." She said quietly, cold blue eyes throwing daggers into the orbs of the watching jock.

"Oh, the fun I could have with you if only they'd let me…" he sneered.

"Wait, if _who _let you?

"Haha, you wanna know who I answer to, pet?" Envy's eyes took on a dangerous gleam. "Equivalent exchange, if I tell you, you sleep with me tonight."

Winry staggered back as he took a step forward.

"All things come with a little sacrifice Rockbell."

Another step forward, one step back.

"Willing to pay up?" The boy reached out a hand for her to take. Winry regarded it was some dead, diseased cockroach.

"Piss off, creep."

Spinning on her heel, she took off towards the dorms as fast as she could. Her lemony ponytail flicked the tips of her elbows as she sprinted with abandon towards her only safehouse; the girl's dormitories.

She could hear Envy's receding cat-calls from behind her as she loped on, grimly determined to report his conduct to an instructor the first chance she got. What a creep! When graduation day came in just a couple years, she hoped he'd choose Survey corps and get eaten by the meanest, ugliest titan of all!

_No you don't really wish that._ Her conscious whispered sadly, truthfully. _You'd truly never wish that on another human being._

When the welcoming light of her dormitory came into view, Winry breathed out in relief and slowed her pace. Glancing over her shoulder, she was satisfied to see no hint of spiky black hair in the cobblestone paths behind her. Luckily, he must have remembered how harsh the penalties were for trespassers. If a boy got caught in the girl's dormitories after dark, they were immediately expelled from the academy.

Her gamble had paid off.

She knocked politely on her door, conscious that her roommate was probably cramming in study time since she hadn't seen her in the mess hall for dinner. Her efforts were rewarded with the shuffling of slippered feet and the subsequent click of the lock as the door swung open.

"Winry?" Sheska shifted in surprise, dressed in a military-issued nightgown and a tatty pink bathrobe. Her glasses perched on the ridge of her nose magnified her stupefied brown eyes as she took in the sight of her new-ish friend/aquaintence. "Did I—this means I must have dinner again. Joy."

Sheska moaned, sighing with resignation. Winry bit back a grin, reaching in her pocket to pull out a roll. "Thought you'd forget. Here, brought you some bread. Just remember to go next time alright?"

She slid past a grateful Sheska to walk into their humble quarters, stopping by her bed to neatly tuck her 3D harnesses into a drawer meant to serve such a purpose before plopping exhaustedly onto a hard mattress.

"I have so much homework but I only want to work on automail." Winry groaned. "Hey Sheska? Do you know of any cadet with automail that I can look at? I'd kill to wax an anchor plate right about now."

Sheska paused from devouring the most heavenly roll she'd ever had to glance confusedly at her roommate. "That's a…strange wish."

Winry snorted, rolling onto the side facing away from Sheska. "Nevermind. Don't listen to me. I'm just sleep-deprived."

The pair settled into a comfortable silence, the peace only broken every now and again by the scratch of Sheska's pencil. After an hour, when Sheska had just begun to think Winry had fallen asleep, the girl's back stiffened when the door to their apartment suddenly thundered with the beats of violent knocking.

Muffled voices could be heard through the thick paneling of the door as Sheska watched Winry irately roll off her bed and stomp to answer it.

Jumping in shock, Sheska heard Winry utter a loud explicitve at discovering who their late-night guests were. The door swung wide as Winry wrathfully grabbed both visitors by the collars of their jackets to throw them forcefully behind her into the warmth of their room, both of them squawking as their backs hit the unforgiving floor. The door slammed shut in Winry's furious wake as the girl spun around sharply to glare threateningly at the boys on her floor.

"The bleep are you guys doing here?! You crazy idiots! You and Al could get in a lot of trouble if it got out you were here!"

Sheska's wide eyes flicked to watch a boy with stunning amber eyes leap nimbly to his feet, body arched into an aggressive stance as his gaze leveled at her roommate.

"Woman how's that a greeting?!" He grit, baring rows of perfect, sharp, white incisors.

"We're sorry Winry! But this is an emergency!" The boy beside him cried, darker golden eyes unrepentant, yet pleading for mercy.

"How? Why? What happened?" Winry's demeanor shifted dramatically from enraged to worried and confused.

"Brother needs a hair-cut." Alphonse said quietly. Edward shot his eyes towards his brother.

"No I don't Alphonse! I like it how it is!"

Amidst the argument Winry slumped in disbelief, unnoticed by the Elric brothers.

"You need one because you'll be safer that way!" Al cried. Clearing her throat, Winry tried to wedge in her two cenz. "Hey, guys…"

"The eff does this have to do with safety?!"

"I already told you brother—"

Winry loudly smacked her forehead, drawing both brothers' attention.

"You guys are risking expulsion because of _this?" _ She grumbled menancingly, before sighing in resignation. "Why is everyone I know an idiot?" She muttered like an afterthought, just loud enough for them to hear her.

Edward had opened his mouth to speak when Sheska nervously jutted in.

"U-uh…I think I need to go to the bathroom…for…awhile so um, don't get caught while I'm away, heh heh…" She sneakily edged around the tension-bound trio until her hand caught the doorknob. With a 'click' she was out of the room and hurriedly shuffling off with an armload of books meant to keep her occupied for a time until it was safe to come back.

The door clicked shut.

Alone, Winry folded her arms across her chest, instantly business-like. "So…why does Ed need a hair-cut?"

XXX

Alphonse briefly recounted his venture of two hours ago, excluding bits of the story that would've bored or worried her, like the distinct scent of blood in gluttony's breath and the uneventful treck between the training field to his and Ed's dormitory; and then the treck from there to Winry's.

Winry had sat still on the bedspread of her bunk, listening intently to everything he had to say. At the end of his retelling, Al had tapered off, slightly appreciative of Winry's ability to listen without interrupting.

Edward's eyes had narrowed at the description Gluttony had given Alphonse of his 'assignment.' Alphonse had explained everything back before at their dorm, but listening to it again jogged something in his memory.

Of beady eyes watching him from the shadows, bends of hallways, windows. Every time he'd duck behind him to catch whoever it was in the act, he'd be met with nothing. Eventually he'd decided the hallways were as creepy as eff and tried to avoid going down them alone whenever he could.

So he hadn't been imagining things…

Winry meanwhile blinked a few times to let it sink in and furrowed her brow in thought.

"Creepy. You should tell Ling first chance you get, he'll probably appreciate knowing he occasionally has a stalker."

Edward smiled vampirically. "He already has a full-time stalker, haven't you noticed Lan-Fan? I bet she nags him all the time like you do to me."

Winry looked at him. "You saying I'm your stalker?"

He turned away from her penetrating blue eyes to pull imaginary hairs off his jacket. He smugly remained silent.

Winry resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Edward could be so childish. Biting her lip to keep back a smirk, Winry launched her hand out to ruffle his bangs, satisfaction beaming out of her eyes when he yelped with indignation and tried to pull away. Undaunted, Winry brushed off his grasping hands and started running her fingers gently through his bangs, filtering the cool silky strands through calloused fingertips. She grinned as her skilled fingers quickly combed through tangles in his fringe, briefly flicking sly eyes at Edward's dazed expression before she dug her nails into his scalp.

A shuddery sigh was her reward as Edward gave in and leaned his head against her knee, shivering lightly whenever her fingernails dug into a particularly sensitive spot.

"Shame we're going to have to cut it." Winry lowly intoned, mock sadly. She couldn't help a giggle when he stiffened beneath her fingers. "No way in hell." He grunted.

"Fine. Al said Gluttony was looking for a 'ponytail man.' If we change that up a little maybe it'll confuse him."

Edward craned his neck back to peer up at her, catching sight of a devious glint in her blue depths.

"What are you saying Win?" he said warily. Alphonse looked curiously up at her.

"Let me braid your hair. It's definitely long enough for it." Winry said brightly. Al smiled, taken with the idea. "Yeah, it'll look nice on you Brother! And it'll keep you hidden!"

Ed glanced between the identical bright, eager expressions of Winry and Alphonse. He was quiet for a moment, before mumbling something dark under his breath. He glanced up again at their faces, taking a moment to study each for signs of seriousness before he grunted, seeming to come to a decision.

"Fine, as long as I don't have to cut it." He dead panned, while he watched Winry give Alphonse a high-five.

"Great then, I'll teach you sometime! But for now…" Winry yanked on Ed's golden tendrils, bringing his head neatly in front of her knees.

"Win-_reeeeeee." _Ed grit out through clenching his teeth.

"Baby, hold still!" She chastised, cheerfully shuffling forward to sit on the very edge of the bed so she could reach him in front of her.

"How long is this going to take? We don't have all night! Al 'n I need to get back before they make rounds." Edward signed, resignedly positioning his back to where Winry could optimally take advantage. Her agile fingers combed through his locks, smoothly de-tangling knots and the occasional fleck of lint or dirt. It sent pleasant tingles down his spine wherever her fingertips touched, sometimes coaxing sighs out of him whenever they dug in a little more forcefully.

He hadn't realized his grunts of approval were so vocal that Alphonse noticed.

"That sounds really nice, Brother seems like he's enjoying it a lot." Al voiced coyly.

Winry's fingers paused and Edward froze, spluttering.

"Hnn, want me to scratch your back or something too Al?" At her suggestion, he nodded enthusiastically, grinning.

"'kay, I just got to braid this now that I've got the tangles out. Just a sec more…"

Winry returned to concentrating on her task of lifting and twisting three chunks of soft, golden, perfect hair. Blonde like hers, but darker, more exotic like the gold glinting off precious jewelry or sunlight reflecting off foreign sand dunes like the ones in her Atlas.

Her hair was ordinary in comparison, a shade somewhere between straw and lemon, glossy and smooth like the reflection off a mirror. Back when she was just an automail mechanic it had been the perfect length too, but now she was a cadet in the military, where bobs and A-lines were more fashionable because of safety hazards. The only people in the cadet school crazy enough to leave their hair long were her and Ed.

Silently, she finished Ed's braid. "Done. So Whad'ya think?"

Ed straightened, feeling the braid with both hands and flicking the end to inspect her handiwork, while Al leaned over to get a better look.

"Wow, braids are a good look on you Brother!"

"I agree…gee Ed, I wasn't expecting this to look so good."

"It looks girly." Ed pouted, flipping the tip over his shoulder as he stood, disgruntled.

"Whatever Brother, it looked girly before in that ponytail. Long hair is girly, face it."

"Is too manly! Makes me look bad-a—"

Winry tuned out of their conversation, stretching languorously as she bent back out of the hunch she'd been in for the past half hour.

She licked her lips, thirsty all of the sudden. With longing she remembered the mess hall supplied lemonade in the evenings, and that she'd forgotten her bottle when she'd picked up to leave. Lemonade seemed really good all the sudden…if only she didn't have to worry about spiky-haired creeps lurking around, she'd be off after Ed and Al were gone for a new bottle.

"Stupid Envy…" Winry grumbled. The brothers stopped in their conversation once again, to glance at her curiously.

"What did you say Winry?" Ed asked, suspicious. Her eyes widened as she realized she hadn't told them about her encounter.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you guys about it. The worst thing happened to me after dinner." Winry groused, leaning back on her elbows. "Guess who."

"It was a person?" Edward growled.

"Who Winry?" Al prodded gently.

"Envy. He caught up to me while I was walking back from dinner, petitioned me again for my 'services'. I hate that guy."

"What services?" Alphonse asked innocently. "Like, automail maintenance?"

"No, Al. Something different…I can't believe that scumbag, he _actually asked that_ of you?!"

"Y-yeah, he outright said it this time, unlike last time."

"I'm going to _kill _him." Edward breathed, clenching his fists so tightly they left crescents in his palm. The veins bulged around his neck as he grit his teeth in barely contained wrath.

"Oh…so the _bad _kind of services?" Alphonse belatedly caught on, wincing.

"Yeah…and that's not all." At her solemn tone, Edward's angry eyes shot to her with choked surprise. "You mean that's not all he told you?" He growled, proverbial hackles raised.

"He mentioned that he has higher-ups, people that tell him what he can or can't do." Winry explained carefully.

Edward grunted in response. Meanwhile, Alphonse who had frozen in discomfort at the implications of innuendo, thawed to look at her.

"So Envy has higher-ups…the 'Ouroborous' groupies are a gang, or a cult then. It makes sense now. Envy and Gluttony must be following someone else's orders. But that means—"

"—Their leader must be someone working in the higher-ups of the military. You said Gluttony was following an Instructor's orders, right? Well then who's giving her orders? It has to be somebody outranking her otherwise they'd hold no sway." Edward finished.

"But If the Ouroborous gang has infiltrated the staff, there's no telling whether if the chain of command spreads up from there or if it's all contained within this facility, Brother."

"Right. So all we know for certain is that Envy, Gluttony, and…the other two are part of some kind of conspiracy that involves us."

"Yeah." Alphonse sighed.

Winry shifted on the bedspread, a thoughtful frown marring her face. "What were their names again…the other two?"

"Uh, Grey and Sam wasn't it?" Ed said, scratching his nose.

"Greed and…something starting with an 'S'" Al tapped his chin for a moment, before adding, "Oh, and Instructor Solaris is in on it. I didn't know what her first name was until Gluttony told me it was Lust. It seems like they're all named after the seven sins…"

"So the other guy's name must be something like that then." Winry stated, making a fist and slamming it in her palm.

"S…s...Sin? Selfish? No wait…Snarky! No that's not it," Ed mumbled thoughts out loud, "Sorrow? Sickness? Slave? Sadness? Sexy?"

Winry and Alphonse snickered. "Go right ahead and call him Sexy, if you want Brother."

Edward blushed, hunching over in embarrassment as he 'tched.' "Shut up that's not what I meant."

Winry pretended to look considerate. "I didn't know Ed knew that word! Makes sense he thinks sexy's a bad thing."

"True Winry, he's never told me if he'd thought anyone was sexy before. Maybe it's because Brother doesn't know what it looks like."

Winry snorted. "Now it makes sense why Ed calls me 'unsexy' all the time. Haha! Poor Ed even I know what looks sexy."

Al grinned bashfully. "Am I sexy Winry?"

"Of course you're sexy Alphonse!" Beside them, Edward choked.

"Hey Al, am I?"

"Yeah you're very sexy Winry!" Edward collapsed in sheer shock.

"You're just the sexiest Alphonse!"

"No, you're even sexier!"

"No, you!" Winry tried to hold back a laugh.

"No you!" Al smirked.

"Nightmare…make it go away…it's just a nightmare…" Edward rocked on the floor, golden eyes glazed over as he stared incomprehensively into space.

"Crap I think we overdid it Al. We broke him." Winry gazed wide-eyed at the short boy.

"Oh. Sorry Brother Winry and I were just joking." If Al had been an anime character, he would've sweat-dropped.

"I can't hear you, I can't hear you!" The elder Elric brother sing-songed, plugging his ears.

"Midget freak." Winry grumped. Edward unplugged his ears. His glare was legendary.

"Joking, Ed." Winry smiled, holding a hand out in truce. "You're going to kill me one day, grease-monkey." Ed cursed, shoving her hand out of the way to prostrate himself once more.

"Oh I think I remember it now guys!" Al said happily. "It's Sloth!"

"Sloth, oh."

"Right! Sloth…why didn't we think of that sooner?"

At Winry mock-innocent remark, Edward growled.

XXX

After she'd kicked the guys out to fend for themselves with the dormitory patrol, the dormitory seemed quiet and peaceful. The clock read 10:00 pm, so the Garrison wouldn't be making their rounds for another fifteen minutes at least. Although they were encouraged to be random with their patrol times so they'd have a better catch of catching any trespassers, the laziness of Garrison troops in general usually meant the officers would follow some printed schedule.

Winry was restless.

Weirdly enough, talking and joking with the 'guys' like she'd used to do before the Wall fell made all the previous exhaustion and fatigue from earlier fade away. Now in the wake of the energy renewal her mechanic hands were itching to tinker with equipment, be it 3D maneuver gear or something more elegant and challenging. Automail.

But she didn't _have_ any automail!

Winry cursed. She felt like if she didn't do something soon, her head would explode with all the pent-up designs she'd imagined or she'd start having seizures from all the jittery-nerves and appendages that were screaming at her to _make something!_

Wait. Sheska could help her! It may not look it, but Sheska was a year ahead of her. Second-years were allowed to keep their 3D maneuver gear and their harnesses with them wherever they went as a sort of test to see whether they could properly take care of their equipment.

Although the shy, bespectacled girl was still nowhere to be seen, she'd left her equipment in the drawers by her bunk, just like Winry had.

The blonde had leapt from her bed, unlocked the drawer, and rushed back to her side of the room in less time than an instant, shiny-new 3D maneuver gear cradled awkwardly in her loving arms.

_I love the feel of metal_…Winry thought blissfully.

Within the next half-hour she had cheerfully de-constructed the brand-new equipment to peer at its basest components. Humming happily, she didn't notice the harnesses balanced precariously on the corner of her bunk until a nudge from one of the gas-cylinders nudged it off the edge, hitting the floor with a loud 'clunk!'

"Eep!" Scared that Sheska had somehow crept up without her noticing (it was believable because Winry was always in her own world when it came to machinery), she glanced at the door (shut, thank goodness!), before peeking over the side of the bed at what she'd dropped.

"Oh, the harnesses." She was about to pull back and continue her tinkering when one of the buckles caught her eye.

Lifting it off the ground, she stared perplexedly at it for a few seconds before it clicked in her head what was wrong with it. Hadn't she fixed a problem just like this already? With Edward's harnesses?

The central buckle across the chest was warped.

Shrugging, Winry decided it must be a common manufacturing error and got to work on fixing it.

**Ooh, 4,000 words and 11 pages! Yesh not bad! **

**Alright, the plot thickens…I'm beginning to wonder how many chapters I'll have to write before we see Titans again. I know in the anime for AoT they just dedicated an episode or two to Eren, Armin, and Mikasa's time in the academy before skipping ahead five years to their graduation, where they immediately messed up (I secretly think the only reason the Colossal Titan showed up again was because Reiner caught Eren talking trash about the Titans) and went into combat. **

**Ugh these academy chapters are dragging me down I just want to get to the angst/action/romance! **

**My favorite part of this chapter was the sexy battle. Hopefully you guys didn't think it was too lame D:**

**Reviews? I really appreciate them! **


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